Clinical pharmacology in the elderly - an example of interdisciplinary cooperation between basic research and clinic.
Elderly patients with multiple diseases are often more sensitive to the effects of drugs than younger ones. The simultaneous ingestion of various drugs can invite drug interactions. Moreover, age-induced physiological and pathological changes can influence pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics. Compared with earlier periods of life, we still know very little about pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics in old age; it follows that in patients with multimorbidity closer monitoring and a more accurate diagnosis, before drug therapy is instituted, are of far greater importance than wholesale prescription and the isolated treatment of individual diseases against the background of multiple pathology.
Platt
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Chair of Internal Medicine and Gerontology, Institute of Gerontology, University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, 8500 Nuremberg 90, F.R.G.