Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Older Adults
Older Adults
Polymedicine
use of five or more medications
simply the use of unnecessary medications
Evidence of Polymedicine
Medications with no apparent current indication
Use of duplicate medications
Use of interacting medications
Medications that are contraindicated in concurrent diseases or conditions
Inappropriately high or low medicine dosages
Pharmacotherapy of adverse drug reactions
Absorption
slower rate of gastric emptying
decrease in intestinal motility
reduction in intestinal blood perfusion
diminished intestinal mucosal surface area.
the extent of absorption may be increased in the elderly for drugs that undergo extensive
first-pass metabolism in the liver.
swallowing difficulties, poor nutritional status, erratic meal patterns, and interactions with
other prescription and nonprescription medications.
Distribution
drug is absorbed and enters the blood circulation, it distributes to various organs and
tissues throughout the body
Metabolism
detoxify compounds is to transform or metabolize them, which most often inactivates
them and allows them to be excreted from the body more readily
nutritional status, diet, genetics, gender, alcohol intake, smoking, environmental factors,
and the concomitant use of other medications
decrease in liver mass, a decrease in blood flow to the liver, and a reduction in the
intrinsic activity of drug-metabolizing enzymes
Excretion
kidney function declines with advancing age
diminished blood flow to the kidneys
decrease in kidney mass
reduction in the size and number of functioning nephrons