Middle-aged adults who take more than 5 pills a day are 3 times more likely to become frail – increasing their risk of falls, disability and even death

Home / Pharmaceutical Updates / Middle-aged adults who take more than 5 pills a day are 3 times more likely to become frail – increasing their risk of falls, disability and even death
February 08, 2017February 8, 2017
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  • Mixing medications causes pensioners to weaken sooner, new research found
  • The practice of taking more than 5 medicines a day is known as polypharmacy
  • People who took more than 10 drugs daily were twice as likely to become frail 

Taking more than five prescription tablets a day causes pensioners to become frail, new research suggests.

While consuming more than 10 doubles an elderly person’s risk of falls, disability and even death within three years, scientists claim.

Mixing numerous medications causes pensioners to become prematurely weak as they affect the body’s ability to function.

Experts say the practice, known as polypharmacy, actually causes all of the drugs to negatively interact with each other.

Experts say mixing numerous medications causes pensioners to become prematurely weak as they affect the body's ability to function

Experts say mixing numerous medications causes pensioners to become prematurely weak as they affect the body’s ability to function

Researchers from the American Geriatrics Society analysed 2,000 elderly patients aged between 50 and 75.

They assessed their likelihood of becoming frail over a period of two, five, eight and 11 years.

At the eight-year revision, participants were divided into groups who took varying amounts of medication.

These were between people who took zero to four medicines (non-polypharmacy), those who took five to nine medicines (polypharmacy) and those who took 10 or more (hyper-polypharmacy).

After adjusting for differences in patient characteristics including illnesses, the researchers found polypharmacy increased the risk of becoming frail.

They discovered that people in the second group – taking between five and nine drugs each day – were nearly twice as likely to become prematurely weak.

Being frail increases a person's risk of falls, disability and even death within three years

Being frail increases a person’s risk of falls, disability and even death within three years

While those who had more than 10 medicines each day were also twice as likely – compared to those who took less than five.

DRUGS DON’T WORK

Taking ibuprofen for your back pain doesn’t work, research suggests.

According to experts from the George Institute for Global Health in Australia, over-the-counter drugs only provide relief to one in six patients.

Analysts said the findings highlight the urgent need to look elsewhere for treatments to cure twinges in the back – with exercise being the only effective option.

The researchers concluded that reducing multiple avoidable prescriptions for older adults could be a promising approach for lessening the risks for frailty.

‘In a perfect world, your physician would talk about your medications with a pharmacist and a geriatrician, ‘ said study co-author Kai-Uwe Saum.

‘This might help to reduce avoidable multiple drug prescriptions and possibly also lessen medication-induced risks for frailty and other negative effects of unnecessary, avoidable polypharmacy.’

In the study, the researchers add that ‘it’s important to understand that taking multiple medicines can cause interactions.’

The medicines can interact with each other and with the human body in harmful ways, they added.