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Posted on Jan 10, 2004, 4 a.m.
By Bill Freeman
A panel of US experts has recently updated the Beers criteria, which lists medications or classes of medications that should be avoided by adults aged 65 years and older. The study identified 48 individual medications or classes of prescribed and over-the-counter medications that should not be given to older adults, and a further list of medications that should be avoided in seniors with any of 20 medical conditions, including hypertension, depression, Parkinson's disease, and insomnia.
A panel of US experts has recently updated the Beers criteria, which lists medications or classes of medications that should be avoided by adults aged 65 years and older. The study identified 48 individual medications or classes of prescribed and over-the-counter medications that should not be given to older adults, and a further list of medications that should be avoided in seniors with any of 20 medical conditions, including hypertension, depression, Parkinson's disease, and insomnia. Muscle relaxants and antispasmodics, anticholinergics and antihistamines, and gastrointestinal antispasmodic drugs, were all on the list of drugs to be avoided in seniors.
SOURCE/REFERENCE: Arch Intern Med. 2003;163:2716-2724.
