Problems of pharmacotherapy of elderly patients

Author:

Ushkalova E.A.

By the beginning of 2013, the share of people aged 65 and older amounted to an average of about 13%in Russia, and in some regions - 28%. It is predicted that in the global structure of the population by 2050 it will be 22%. In Russia, by the beginning of 2021, an increase in the number of people aged 65 years and older to 22.9 million people, 80 years and older - 5.5 million people are expected; 100 years and older - 7266 people. The fastest growing group of population in economically developed countries is 80 years of age and older.
The data of evidence -based medicine on the effectiveness and safety of drugs (drugs) in the elderly are extremely limited, since the age> 65 years remains one of the main criteria for non -inclusion in randomized controlled studies (RCTs).
Meanwhile, the effectiveness and safety of therapy in elderly patients can differ significantly from those in middle and young people, which is associated with age -related changes in physiology, leading to changes in pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of many drugs.
Other factors that complicate pharmacotherapy in elderly people include: “fragility” (frailty), somatic and mental comorbidity and polypragmasia associated with it, social factors (loneliness, helplessness, poverty), low learning and low commitment to treatment.