Are patients taking too many medications?

Apparently, the answer is yes.

With Medicare patients seeing 5 to 10 different physicians annually, there is significant potential for medication lists to grow with every office visit. The lack of a centralized electronic record system makes keeping track of patient information difficult, especially in the context where a fifth of seniors take 10 or more drugs daily.

Sometimes, drugs are used to treat side effects of other medications, as Dr. Rob points out:

A classic example of this is the person who is put on a blood pressure pill that can cause swelling as a side effect. To treat the swelling, they are put on a diuretic; but diuretics cause the person to lose potassium, and so they are started on potassium. Potassium, in turn, causes stomach upset for which the patient is put on a stomach medication. One drug’s side effects lead to the use of four.

Pruning lists should be considered whenever a patient is seen, and here are some tips on what patients can do to help out their doctors.

Internist Matthew Mintz agrees with the problems concerning polypharmacy, but takes a more critical look at the article, asking whether the cited pharmacy expert perpetuates the known anti-medication bias that the source magazine is known for.

topics: drugs, medications