medication safety Archives - Better Health While Aging

Medications Older Adults Should Avoid or Use with Caution:
The American Geriatrics Society Beers Criteria

Today we’re covering a touchstone resource for geriatricians: the “Beers List” of medications that older adults should avoid or use with caution.

(Technically, it’s called “The AGS Beers Criteria® for Potentially Inappropriate Medication Use in Older Adults.” I personally think of it as the list of “risky medications” for older adults.)

If you want to know which medications older adults should be careful about, this is the list!

This list gets updated every few years, so the Beers Criteria published in May 2023 is about as up-to-date as you can get for this type of guideline document.

You should know that experts in geriatrics and in medication safety go through a very careful process of reviewing the research on medications, and of updating this list of medications that older adults should avoid or use with caution.

So in this article, here’s what I’ll be sharing with you:

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6 Common Medication Problems in Aging, & What You Can Do

by Leslie Kernisan, MD MPH

If you’re helping an older person with health and healthcare, chances are that person is taking at least a few prescription medications, if not several.

Do you ever wonder if he or she is on the right medications? Do you worry about side-effects and interactions?

These are sensible concerns to have. Many older adults end up experiencing “polypharmacy,” which means taking more than 5 medications concurrently.

And although medications do often help maintain health and wellbeing, studies have repeatedly shown that lots of older adults end up suffering from problems related to medication.

Polypharmacy, predictably, increases the risk of problems. (Polypharmacy is usually defined as taking five or more medications concurrently.) But even older adults taking one to three daily medications can encounter problems.

So I want to share a list of common ways that medications affect the health and wellbeing of aging adults. I’ll then explain what you can do, to minimize these problems.

Six Common Medication-Related Problems in Aging Adults

Here are the most common problems that I see: [Read more…]

How to find geriatric care — or a medication review — near you

by Leslie Kernisan, MD MPH

A caregiving daughter once wrote in and asked me this common question:

“How can I find a gerontologist* near me to review medications, and help care for my mother with dementia?”

As you may have noticed if you’re a regular reader, I often emphasize the importance of spotting and reducing risky medications, especially those associated with falls or memory problems.

Understandably, this caregiver wants to find a geriatrician who can review her mother’s medications, and otherwise oversee her mother’s care.

(*Note: Technically, a geriatrician and a gerontologist are not the same. Gerontology is the social science discipline of all things aging, and one can get either a master’s or a doctorate in this field. Whereas geriatrics is a medical specialty, so geriatricians must first get a medical degree, then do a residency in internal medicine or family medicine, and then do specialty training. So when people say they want a gerontologist for medical care, what they really want is a geriatrician.)

Now, medication review is usually included in geriatrics primary care. Geriatric care, after all, means healthcare modified to be a better fit with what happens as people get older. And being careful with medications is pretty integral to this approach.

But, although geriatric primary care is certainly worth looking for, it can be hard to find. (Read on for suggestions below.)

So it’s good to have a plan B, which can be getting a medication review — and fall risk assessment — outside of geriatric primary care. This can also be a good option if an older person is reluctant to change primary care doctors.

In this article, I’ll describe 3 places to look for geriatric primary care, and then 3 options for medication review.

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How to Review Medications for Safety & Appropriateness in Aging

by Leslie Kernisan, MD MPH

By now you’ve probably heard that older adults are often taking “too many” medications.

You also hopefully know that older people are often prescribed medications that may be harmful, or no longer necessary. The CDC has estimated that adverse drug events send older adults to the emergency room 600,000 times per year.

Why does this happen? Research has shown that “inappropriate prescribing” is common in older adults. Meaning that, when patient charts are carefully reviewed, experts often find that older adults are receiving medications that are ineffective, duplicate the effect of another medication, or otherwise lack a basis for being prescribed.

So what can you do?

To reduce the chance of being harmed by inappropriate medications, the answer is not to look for a super doctor. The answer is to regularly conduct a methodical medication review, in which all medications are reviewed for appropriateness and safety. This is part of a process called “deprescribing.”

Scheduling such regular medication reviews is becoming more common in well-run primary care clinics. But if your doctor’s office doesn’t yet offer this service, you can ask for it.

Geriatricians are trained to do this, but if you can’t find a geriatrician, you should be able to get a decent review from the primary care doctor.

But before you go in, it pays to do a little homework on your own. That’s because the input of a patient and her caregivers is actually crucial to determining whether each medication is appropriate for her.

To help you complete this background preparation for a medication review, just follow the 5-Step process I describe below. This will free up some time when you’re actually seeing the doctor — which might mean more time for questions or discussion — and can help you spot safety issues that a non-geriatrician might otherwise not notice.

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How You Can Help Someone Stop Ativan

by Leslie Kernisan, MD MPH

Have you heard of Ativan (generic name lorazepam), and of the risks of benzodiazepines drugs in older adults? Is an older person you care for taking prescription medication for sleep, anxiety, or “nerves”?

Would you like an easy, practical tool to help someone stop a drug whose risks often outweigh the benefits?

If so, I have good news: a wonderful patient education tool has been created by a well-respected expert in geriatrics, Dr. Cara Tannenbaum. Best of all, a randomized trial has proved that this tool works.

As in, 62% older adults who received this tool — a brochure with a quiz followed by key information — discussed stopping the medication with a doctor or pharmacist, and 27% were successful in discontinuing their benzodiazepine. The brochure includes a handy illustrated guide on slowly and safely weaning a person off these habit-forming drugs.

This is big news because although experts widely agree that long-term benzodiazepine use should be avoided in older adults, getting doctors and patients to work together to stop has been tough. It is, after all, generally easier to start a tranquilizer than to stop it!

But through a patient education brochure, Dr. Tannenbaum’s team was able to make this tricky process much more doable for older adults, their families, and their doctors.

Why it’s important to try to stop lorazepam & other benzodiazepines

[Read more…]

How to Choose the Safest Over-the-Counter Painkiller for Older Adults

by Leslie Kernisan, MD MPH

Depositphotos_13932212_m-2015-OTC-medication-compressor

Q: My 88-year old mother often complains of various aches and pains. What is the safest over-the-counter painkiller for her to take? Aren’t some of them bad for your liver and kidneys?

A: Frequent aches and pains are a common problem for older adults.

If your mother has been complaining, you’ll want to make sure she gets a careful evaluation from her doctor. After all, frequent pain can be a sign of an important underlying health problem that needs attention. You’re also more likely to help your mom reduce her pain if you can help her doctors identify the underlying causes of her pain.

That said, it’s a good idea to ask what over-the-counter (OTC) pain relievers are safest for older people.

That’s because improper use of OTC painkiller tablets is actually a major cause of harm to older adults.

So let me tell you what OTC pain relievers geriatricians usually consider the safest, and which very common group of painkillers can cause serious side-effects in aging adults. I’ve also made a Youtube video cover the topics mentioned in this article:

What’s the safest OTC painkiller for an aging parent?

[Read more…]

Deprescribing: How to Be on Less Medication for Healthier Aging

by Leslie Kernisan, MD MPH

Have you ever wondered whether you — or your older relative — might be taking too many medications?

You’re certainly right to ask yourself this. I consider this for all my own patients, and wish every doctor would.

In part, this is because over the years, I’ve had countless older adults express their worries and frustrations, related to their prescription drugs. These include:

The hassle of having so many pills to take
Worries about side-effects
Frustration with medication costs
Wondering whether a given medication is the “right” one for you, or for your condition
The sneaky feeling that some of those medications don’t seem to help much
The hassle of coordinating a long medication list among multiple doctors

Needless to say, all of this is not so good for quality of life while aging.

And unlike some things that people worry about, these concerns are all actually justified, given what geriatricians know about older adults and medications.

So if you’ve ever experienced the above worries — or if you (or your older relative) are taking more than five medications — then I want to make sure you know about a process that can improve or resolve all those problems that older adults have with their medications.

It’s called deprescribing, and it’s really essential to optimizing the health of an older person.

In this article, I’ll cover what every older adult and family caregiver should know about it:

What is deprescribing?
Why is deprescribing especially important for older adults?
How does deprescribing work?
What medications are most important for older adults to consider deprescribing?
How can older adults and family caregivers get doctors to address deprescribing?

This way, you’ll have a better shot at what everyone wants when it comes to medication:

[Read more…]

Preventing Falls: 10 Types of Medications to Review if You’re Concerned About Falling

by Leslie Kernisan, MD MPH

Have you been concerned about falls for yourself, or for an aging parent?

If so, do you know if any of your medications might be increasing your risk for falls?

In its Stay Independent brochure, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommends older adults do the following four things to prevent falls:

Ask your doctor or pharmacist to review your medicines.
Begin an exercise program to improve leg strength and balance.
Get annual eye check-ups and update your glasses.
Make your home safer.

In this article, we’ll focus on medications for three reasons:

Medications are among the most common causes of increased fall risk in older people.
Medications are usually among the easiest risk factors to change, when it comes to falls in older adults.
Medication-based risks are often missed by busy regular doctors. Older adults and family caregivers can make a big difference by being proactive in this area.

I want you to understand just what types of medications you and your doctors should be looking for, when you address medication review as part of fall prevention. This article will also explain exactly what to do, once you’ve identified any medications that are associated with falls.

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5 Medication Safety Principles for Older Adults

by Leslie Kernisan, MD MPH

Have you found yourself eyeing an older person’s medication list, wondering if you should worry?

It’s smart to be concerned, especially if your older relative takes five or more medications. Medications can provide many benefits, but they also can easily cause problems.

The CDC estimates that every year 177,000 older adults visit the emergency room due to medication-related problems. But even medications that don’t prompt ER visits may be causing more harm than good, and researchers have documented that “inappropriate prescribing” is common among seniors.

For all these reasons, a big part of what we do as geriatricians is to regularly review an older person’s medications, for safety and appropriateness.

Now, to properly review medications, you do need to work with clinically trained professionals such as doctors, pharmacists, and nurses.

But I am a big believer in the idea that well-informed patients and families are key to getting the healthcare work done better.

So I’ve written a two-part article for A Place for Mom, about how you can help an older person get the most out of his or her medication review. Here’s part one:

“How to Think Like a Geriatrician About Medications for Older Adults“

In this article, I share five medication safety truths that I always keep in mind, and that you should too! They are:

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Blood pressure medications linked to serious falls: What you can do

by Leslie Kernisan, MD MPH

Have you had any concerns about an older person falling, or being at risk for a broken hip?

A new clinical research study relevant to millions of older adults was just featured in the news.

The study, completed by a team of geriatrics researchers at Yale, found that in older adults aged 70 or older, taking blood pressure medication was linked to a higher risk of serious falls. (Serious falls as in, falls that caused an ER visit for a fracture, a dislocated joint, or a brain bleed. Serious stuff indeed!)

So, if the person you care for has a diagnosis of hypertension, and if you’ve had any concerns regarding falls or near-falls, these study results should be of interest to you.

In this post, I’ll review the key results of this study. Then I’ll tell you what I think are the most important practical take-aways for family caregivers.

This post will also include some practical tips to help you minimize the risk of your loved one experiencing a serious fall.

[Read more…]

Six Common Medication-Related Problems in Aging Adults

Why it’s important to try to stop lorazepam & other benzodiazepines

What’s the safest OTC painkiller for an aging parent?

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