Medication Use among Canadian Seniors

Abstract

As they age, many seniors develop a progressively more complex mix of health conditions. Multiple prescription medications are often required to help manage these conditions and control symptoms, with the goal of maintaining seniors' health for as long as possible. This article explores trends in the number and types of medications used by seniors on public drug programs in Canada. Our findings suggest that a high proportion of Canadian seniors are taking several medications, highlighting the need for medication management systems focusing on this population.

Polypharmacy in community-based older adults: results of the Fibra study

“…The prevalence of polypharmacy was greater in the subgroups of older adults with waist circumference classified as greatly increased, and in those who were overweight. A study with older people from Goiânia (Goiás) 23 found, in bivariate analysis, a higher prevalence of polypharmacy in those with a in Sweden, in a three-year prospective cohort study 1 , and 69.0% in Canada, with data from the National Prescription Drug Utilization Information System 27 .…”

A Genetic Analysis of Current Medication Use in the UK Biobank

“…The hypothesis was that across medical conditions, medication use has a detectable genetic component, and medication use was expected to be genetically correlated with common diseases, as commonly prescribed drugs are likely to serve as proxy phenotypes for major disease groups. Extensive medication use among individuals older than 65 years has been shown to be associated with ill health and morbidity [ 13 , 14 ]; hence, it was further hypothesised that medication use was genetically correlated with health-related outcomes. If medication use has a genetic component, understanding the genetic basis is important because many medications have side effects, and increased drug usage might be associated with higher risk of toxic effects.…”