title: The class effect: is it relevant to geriatrics?
abstract: The formulary of medications available today provides a remarkable range of choices to all prescribers and their patients. In some ways, choices have become easier to make, whereas in other ways, choosing has become a nightmare of dueling considerations. One approach to simplification has relied on class effect. The hypothesis is that drugs within a pharmacological class all work similarly, have similar advantages and disadvantages, and are-to a large extent-interchangeable. If one develops familiarity with one or two agents in a class, that is all one needs to know, because there is little difference between agents within a drug class. The question is whether this approach based on class effect is relevant to geriatrics.
authors.affiliation: Department of Geriatrics and Medical Literature, Merck and Company, West Point, Pennsylvania 19104, USA.
authors.forename: Mark H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Beers
authors.forename: Richard G
authors.initials: RG
authors.lastname: Stefanacci
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D011307:Drug Prescriptions; D005853:Geriatrics; D006801:Humans; D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations / Q000145:classification*
chemical_list: D004364:Pharmaceutical Preparations