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 naïve 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.)