| [ Summary ] |
Polypharmacy is a common problem in geriatrics and is related to adverse drug reactions, treatment non-adherence, and other pharmacological problems. To avoid polypharmacy, physicians or pharmacists or both should prioritize comorbidities and medications for prescription. Particularly, they should understand potentially incompatible medications as described in the Screening Tool for Older Persons' Appropriate Prescriptions for Japanese (STOPP-J) and similar criteria. Furthermore, older patients are likely to have cognitive dysfunction and visual/hearing impairment ; thus, medication management ability should be considered in older patients. |