title: Clinical pharmacology in the elderly - an example of interdisciplinary cooperation between basic research and clinic.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Chair of Internal Medicine and Gerontology, Institute of Gerontology, University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, 8500 Nuremberg 90, F.R.G.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Platt