Medicating is a serious business. In order to reach long life, people have to be medicated safely. Those who are to take
prescription drugs have to know all possible consequences. Besides curing a disease, one should know all about side effects
a certain medication may cause. In the year 2004 the elderly (65 and above) made up more than 14 percent of the population
of the United States.
However, when it comes to prescription drugs, this small group of our population accounted for
nearly 40 percent of all prescription medication users. This is huge number and a big concern. As people get older, we tend
to be at a higher risk for having a drug-induced unfavorable reaction, especially since older Americans tend to have more than
one medical condition at the same time, such as diabetes, high cholesterol, hypertension and more.
Multiple medical conditions often result in multiple prescription drugs, and the more drugs a person is taking, the
grater their risk of a drug interaction. There is no getting around it: polypharmacy in the older adult is almost
always a problem.
Please refer to our Drug Information section (on the right hand side), for
possible side effects, proper usage, drug interaction and more.
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