Most accidents with blood thinners and insulin

If old people need to be hospitalized due to side effects, only a few drugs are involved. Trigger in two out of three cases, blood thinners or diabetes agents. Researchers warn that the problem could grow.

Polypharmacy exacerbates the risk of side effects.

ATLANTA (rb / ice). If old people need to be hospitalized due to side effects, only a few drugs are involved. Trigger in two out of three cases: Vitamin K antagonists, antiplatelet agents, insulins and oral antidiabetics.

Researchers at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have now compiled data on hospital treatments for severe adverse drug reactions of about 5000 patients aged 65 years in the USA (NEJM 2011; 365: 2002).

Half of those affected had been the 80th Age exceeded. In two thirds of cases of overdose had caused the incident.

Four drugs or drug classes were - individually or in combination - to 67 percent involved warfarin (33 percent), insulin (14 percent), oral antiplatelet drugs (13 percent) and oral hypoglycemic agents (11 percent).

Management for fewer hospital admissions

High-risk medications two spent only 1.2 percent of the events involved. These included the researchers about the antipsychotic thioridazine, the calcium channel blocker nifedipine and some long-acting benzodiazepines such as diazepam all have side effects.

Through improved management of antithrombotic and antidiabetic therapies themselves could avoid hospital admissions due to drug side effects, the researchers said.

They warn that the increasing polypharmacy in the elderly in the future will exacerbate the problem. So take 40 percent of the over-65s in the U.S. five to ten medications daily, 18 percent as much as ten or more drugs.