Drug Safety
Position & Issues
Related Publications
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Press Release
National Campaign to Help Older Americans Manage Medicines
The Consumer Health Education Center (CHEC) launched a national education campaign to help mature Americans better manage their health, specifically regarding the over-the-counter (OTC) medicines they take. There are more than 100,000 over-the-counter medicines on the market today and those aged 60 and over use more than one third of all OTCs purchased.
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Report
When Medicine Hurts Instead of Helps:
Preventing Medication Problems in Older Persons
June 1998
| Alliance for Aging Research
Related topics:
Drug Safety
Misuse of everyday medications by older Americans costs the United States billions of dollars, and thousands of lives, every year, Older people are more vulnerable to adverse drug reactions due to the numbers of medications they take and the biological changes that accompany aging and disease.
When Medicine Hurts Instead of Helps focuses on this susceptibility of older Americans. An estimated 106,000 fatal adverse drug reactions occur ever year and the cost of medication-related problems in all age groups approaches $85 billion annually. Recommendations to alleviate this tragic and preventable problem are outlined.
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