| Aging and Drug Therapy 1984 Edition Contributor(s): Barbagallo-Sangiorgi, G. (Author), Exton-Smith, A. N. (Author) |
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ISBN: 0306417391 ISBN-13: 9780306417399 Publisher: Springer OUR PRICE: $94.05 Product Type: Hardcover - Other Formats Published: September 1984 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Medical | Chemotherapy - Science | Physics - General |
| Dewey: 615.580 |
| LCCN: 84011772 |
| Series: Subnuclear Series |
| Physical Information: 523 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: One of the greatest advances in Geriatric Medicine during the last quarter of a century has been the increased realization of the possibilities of treatment for elderly patients. Neglect has been replaced by a more optimistic therapeutic endeavour and countless old people have benefitted from this approach. But there is also a drawback, and this is the risk of hazardous side effects of medication which are often directly proportional to the biological potency of the drug and may be unpredictably increased due to changes in the senile organism. In fact the anatomical and biological changes in old age alter both the kinetics of most drugs and the receptor response. On account of these changes the individual tolerance of aged patients to drug therapy may be quite different from that of younger subjects. Thus for a variety of reasons elderly patients receive more drugs, but they are at a higher risk of encountering adverse reactions, which often show atypical clinical features. We can therefore speak of "geriatric iatrogenic disorders" and point out that some of these side effects are determined by a complex pathogenesis due to the particular pathophysiological condition in the elderly. It is important to encourage the habit of individ- ually evaluating potential risk versus expected advantages of drugs in keeping with the same principles adopted in the evaluation of cost/benefit ratio. |