One third of all hospitalizations of those ages 65 and over, are due to medication issues like PolyPharmacy (taking multiple drugs), poor compliance, and a lack of underestanding how seniors metabolize meds differently by both patients and healthcare providers.
In a study of over 150,000 elderly patients, 29% had been given at least one of 33 potentially inappropriate drugs; in addition, a study of approximately 27,600 Medicare patients documented more than 1,500 adverse drug effects (ADEs) in a single year. Most ADEs result from drug interactions; the more drugs a patient takes, the higher the risk of interactions. The estimated incidence of drug interactions rises from 6% in patients taking two medications a day to as high as 50% in patients taking five a day.