The NYT’s Science section had a great article on older adults and polypharmacy today. It paints a picture of a world in which pills are given for every ill; where doctors (specialists) don’t talk to each other; where drugs are tested on the young and little is known about their effects on the old; and where older people pay the price – financially and physically. Jane Brody’s article suggested that polypharmacy could be counted as the 5th leading cause of death in this country. And that it is the cause of 28% of all hospitalizations. Here’s a question: how much dementia is caused by polypharmacy? Or a milder question…how are cognitive challenges made worse by drug interactions?
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