Farmacotherapie bij ouderen

Abstract

Veehof L, Schuling J. Pharmacotherapy in the elderly. Huisarts Wet 2010;(8):416-9. Advancing age is accompanied by more chronic ailments and hence more medications. This means that general practitioners should be alert to the potential problems of multiple medication use. There is no clear association between inadequate prescribing and outcomes such as quality of life, morbidity, and mortality. Although several instruments measure the problems of medication use, their outcomes are poorly correlated with morbidity, mortality, and quality of life. When formulating guidelines and plans to treat multiple morbidities in elderly patients, doctors should use not only objective criteria to evaluate elderly patients’ medications, but also more subjective criteria. Thus attention should be paid to the patient’s wishes, preferences, and situation, in addition to survival and duration of response. We advocate smaller studies of a more descriptive nature.