Clinical consequences of abuse and misuse of hypnotics and analgesics in geriatric population

Abstract

Insomnia and pain coexist with chronic diseases, especially in the elderly, who are therefore the largest group taking hypnotics and analgesics. For this reason, seniors are at high risk of abusing these medications, leading to dangerous and unpredictable clinical outcomes. The article provides a literature review using the Pubmed, Medline, Embase and Google Scholar databases. The articles were analysed using the following keywords: drug abuse, sleeping pills, painkillers, benzodiazepines, opioids. The article presents the characteristics of medical substances belonging to sleeping pills and painkillers, taking into account the consequences of their misuse. Hypnotics and pain relievers, especially benzodiazepines and opioids, are the most abused drug classes in the elderly. In the case of hypnotics, apart from benzodiazepines, these are zolpidem and zopiclone or trazodone, and in the case of analgesics, codeine, tramadol, morphine or oxycodone and also paracetamol and NSAIDs. The problem of abuse and misuse of hypnotics and analgesics in the geriatric population is still growing and therefore more and more attention should be paid to this problem. Although this type of treatment is important to maintain a good quality of life for the elderly, proper education among staff, patients and their carers is also needed. Proper information provided by medical personnel plays an important role in this matter.