Older adults face higher risk of adverse drug reactions, expert says

Dr. Frank Pedonado, professor emeritus of the University of Montana School of Pharmacy and Allied Health Sciences, told a Missoula Aging Services program that older adults take a disproportionate share of prescription drugs and face higher risks of medication-related harm.

Pedonado said older people — who account for about one-sixth of the U.S. population — consume nearly 40% of prescription drugs and are more likely than younger people to suffer adverse drug reactions, hospitalizations and other harms. "Adverse Drug Reactions are simply an abnormal response to the normal dose of a drug," he said.

The risks are driven by several factors that change with age, Pedonado said: lower body weight and water content, higher body fat, reduced liver and kidney function, increased sensitivity to many medicines and the growing use of multiple prescriptions and over-the-counter products. Those effects can prolong drug action, increase blood levels and…