Elderly prescribed taboo drugs

01 October 1994

Elderly patients in the US are being prescribed drugs that are too dangerous for them to take.

Experts have identified 23 common drugs that should never be prescribed to the over-65s because of their hazardous side effects. Nevertheless a recent study found that 6.3 per cent of elderly people were taking propranolol (a beta-blocker), 4.5 per cent methyldopa (for high blood pressure), 4.8 per cent dextropropoxyphene (a painkiller), and 6.4 per cent dipyridamole (an anti-coagulant), to name just four of the total.

!AJAMA 1994; 272: 292-6.

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