International Day for Older Persons - 1 October 2013

1 October is International Day for Older Persons and the Government Employees Medical Scheme (GEMS) believes this to be the ideal opportunity to share a special message with our senior medical scheme members about the importance of safe medicine usage.

As people grow older, the need for medicine becomes almost as inevitable as grey hair and needing reading glasses. Two-thirds of all senior citizens over the age of 65 take at least one form of medicine per day, while one third take three or more. Four out of five people aged over 75 years take at least one medicine while 36 percent of this age group take as much as four medicines or more. Although many owe their lives and, often, lifestyles, to these medicines, they do sometimes carry with them serious risks. 

Senior citizens take more medicine than any other age group and are therefore especially vulnerable to the effects of prescription drugs. More than nine million Americans suffer from complications caused by side effects of medicine each year and, what is often not realised, is that medicines which work well on their own may become dangerous when combined with other medicines.

According to netdoctor.co.za, elderly people can be at increased risk from medicines for various reasons:

• The ageing body can be more susceptible to the side effects of medicines.
• Older individuals with multiple illnesses can often end up taking multiple medicines at the same time, which increases the chances of side effects, interactions between different medicines and problems with taking them correctly.
• The physical effects of ageing, such as arthritis and failing eyesight and memory, can also cause difficulties when it comes to taking medicines the way your doctor intended for you to take them.

Although your healthcare team will at all times do their best to minimise such problems, there are a number of things you and those who care for you can do to ensure the medication you take provides the desired effect with minimal problems.

The first step in ensuring that medicine is being taken correctly, and safely, is to read the warning labels on over-the-counter medicines and ask your doctor or pharmacist about the side effects of all prescription medicine. There are certain medicines, particularly sedatives and painkillers, that are nowadays considered to be inappropriate for persons over sixty-five years of age. 

Asking your doctor about whether or not any of the medicines you are using may not be taken with other medicines is the second step. Drug interactions are a serious concern for seniors as over 40% of all medicine reactions reported each year involve persons over sixty years of age.
 
Make sure your doctor knows about all prescription and non-prescription medicine you are taking, including herbal remedies, nutritional supplements and daily vitamins.

Mixing medicines is usually the result of incorrect information given or because of lack of knowledge on the part of the consumer.  Research undertaken in Britain revealed that 62% of people taking prescription medicines were also taking some form of complementary medicine.  As most people don't view these medicines as possibly being harmful, they often neglected to tell their pharmacist about them when filling prescriptions.

It is important for doctors and pharmacists to know what medicine patients are using and this becomes even more important when dispensing medicine to senior citizens.  As your medical scheme of choice, GEMS is concerned about the wellbeing of all its members, particularly that of its long-standing older members who have always been loyal to the Scheme. 

Additional tips on the safe use of medicines include:

• Ask for a larger print type on medication bottle labels if you have trouble reading them (a magnifying glass and reading in a brighter light also help).
• Develop a system for keeping track of what medicines you have taken (pill sorting trays, separate containers for morning and evening pills, turning a bottle upside down once you have taken the medicine contained in it, etc.).
• Only stop taking the medicine when your doctor tells you to or if you experience adverse side-effects - don't stop just because you ‘feel better'.
• Check expiry dates and take medicine which has passed this expiry date to your pharmacist for safe disposal.
• Always follow you doctor's directions exactly.  Although it sounds basic, 40% to 70% of older adults take their medicine at the wrong time of day, sometimes using incorrect dosages, often with serious consequences.

Sources
Promoting drug safety in elderly - Needs a proactive approach:  www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov › ... › Indian J Med Res › v.136(3); Sep 2012
http://www.uptodate.com/contents/drug-prescribing-for-older-adults
http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/health_advice/facts/medicationelderly.htm
http://www.cdc.gov/medicationsafety/adult_adversedrugevents.html