Healthy Elderly Individuals Become Patients Due To Modern Medicine
Editor's ChoiceMain Category: Seniors / Aging
Article Date: 04 Mar 2009 - 0:00 PDT
email to a friend 
printer friendly 
opinions
| Patient / Public: |  |
4.4 (10 votes) |
| Healthcare Prof: |  |
4.6 (5 votes) |
| Article Opinions: | 1 posts |
A senior doctor in an article published today on bmj.com cautions that modern medicine is turning fit elderly people into patients. Many people seventy-five years of age and over are being prescribed medication for high blood pressure, diabetes or high cholesterol with slight concern for the real benefits to the individual, claims Michael Oliver, Professor Emeritus of Cardiology, University of Edinburgh.
Preventive treatment may be inappropriate and even dangerous for the elderly, he argues.
For instance, he explains treatment will be given in order to avoid a stroke for only one mature individual in a group of seventy-five all presenting mild hypertension, as a result the rest of the seventy-four people will face life-long treatment.
The author attributes in part this tendency to naĂŻve and over eager understanding of the guidelines, government health economics demands, and the continuous stress from the pharmaceutical companies.
He writes that rather than analyzing or researching the potential causes of the symptoms, the patient is rapidly diagnosed and treated. However, the genuine benefits of treating any risk factor in people over seventy-five years of age require much further cautious evidence in each individual case.
Guidelines should not be considered as strict directives for examining and treating. He also suggests that the individual should have a full explanation of the benefits and hazards of the risks of treatment and of the untreated risk.
In conclusion, he indicates that over-diagnosis, over-treatment and pointless anxiety are often caused by bureaucratic demands for documentation.
"Personal View: Let's not turn elderly people into patients"
BMJ Online
http://press.psprings.co.uk/bmj/march/oliver.doc
British Medical Journal
http://www.bmj.com
Written by Stephanie Brunner (B.A.)
Copyright: Medical News Today
Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today
MLA
15 Feb. 2012. <http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/140981.php>
APA
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/140981.php.
Please note: If no author information is provided, the source is cited instead.
|
Rate this article: (Hover over the stars then click to rate) |
Patient / Public: |
or |
Health Professional: |
Visitor Opinions In Chronological Order (1)
Too Many Prescriptions?
posted by Paige Gardner on 5 Mar 2009 at 8:13 pmI agree with the main point of the article that drugs are being overprescribed to elders. Side effects of many drugs taken by the elderly can be mistaken for age-related illness or dementia. Doctors are sometimes unaware of these side effects, and failure to identify them can lead to even more drugs to treat the symptoms.
Drug interaction is another concern, since many elderly patients take several medications at once. When taking two, three, four or more synthetic chemical compounds, who knows what can happen; safety testing on drug combinations is lacking in the scientific literature. It’s truly alarming to think about the effects of multiple drug combinations on an elder’s health, especially since they can be more at risk because their metabolism is often less efficient. Another cause for concern is that most drug studies were conducted in younger patients, not in the elderly.
Although I agree with most points in this article, I also think there’s a larger issue that hasn’t been focused on—the influence of the pharmaceutical industry. Drug representatives greatly influence some doctors’ decisions of prescribing drugs. Despite risks that the information may be misleading, biased or inaccurate, one study found that family doctors are more likely to rely on information supplied by drug manufacturers rather than on information from independent sources, and often relied on the pharmaceutical industry as their major source of information.
Health providers have the duty to maintain the health of their patient, and minimize potential harm. When the risks of prescription drugs outweigh the benefits, professional ethics come into play. It is important that the costs involved in prescribing drugs are carefully analyzed, and weighed against non-drug alternatives.
Add Your Opinion
Please note that we publish your name, but we do not publish your email address. It is only used to let you know when your message is published. We do not use it for any other purpose. Please see our privacy policy for more information.
If you write about specific medications or operations, please do not name health care professionals by name.
All opinions are moderated before being included (to stop spam)
Contact Our News Editors
For any corrections of factual information, or to contact the editors please use our feedback form.
Please send any medical news or health news press releases to:
Note: Any medical information published on this website is not intended as a substitute for informed medical advice and you should not take any action before consulting with a health care professional. For more information, please read our terms and conditions.
Privacy Policy |
Terms and Conditions
MediLexicon International Ltd
Bexhill-on-Sea, United Kingdom
MediLexicon International Ltd © 2004-2012 All rights reserved.
