The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 269 No 7205 p33
6 July 2002

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Pharmaceutical care of older patients

'Medicines in the elderly', edited by David Armour and Chris Cairns. Pp xx+428. Price £29.95. London: Pharmaceutical Press; 2002. ISBN 0 854369 446 X

Four out of five people over the age of 75 take at least one prescribed medicine with more than a third taking four or more medicines. The statistics hardly need repeating, but serve to emphasise the enormously significant role that pharmacists have in the pharmaceutical care of older patients. The older people's national service framework and the accompanying publication "Medicines and older people" make this quite clear. The challenge is not just to accept the statistics but to ensure that medicines are prescribed and used effectively — in other words, preventing adverse drug reactions, improving compliance, enhancing communication between primary and secondary care, reviewing repeat prescribing systems and so on.

If pharmacists feel they lack the knowledge and confidence to take up such a challenge, 'Medicines in the elderly' will be a huge help in providing all the background information they need. Introductory chapters discuss the ageing process and its implications for drug response and later chapters cover compliance, polypharmacy and drug research in older people. However, the main bulk of the text covers drug therapies for diseases in older people according to major body systems, including gastrointestinal medicines, cardiovascular medicines, respiratory medicines, anti-infective therapy, medicines for bones and joints and so on. It can therefore be used to advantage alongside the British National Formulary, which it complements well.

Helping older people to get the best from their medicines is an opportunity that pharmacists cannot afford to miss. This timely and relevant book will help them to do this.

Pamela Mason