Many Assisted-Living Residents Are Undertreated

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Many Assisted-Living Residents Are Undertreated

Mon Oct 11, 4:29 PM ET Health - Reuters

By Alison McCook

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The majority of elderly people in

assisted-living or residential care facilities are not receiving all of the

medications they need for four common conditions, according to new study

findings released Monday.

Traditionally, experts have worried about medication overuse among elderly

people. To investigate whether the elderly were also facing problems due to

a lack of needed medications, Dr. Philip D. Sloane of the University of

North Carolina in Chapel Hill and his colleagues reviewed the medical

records of 2014 people 65 years of age or older.

All study participants were residents of assisted living or residential care

facilities. Such residents tend to be less impaired than people living in

nursing homes, but are still provided with 24-hour supervision and help with

day-to-day activities.

Sloane and his colleagues found that among people with a history of heart

attack, more than 60 percent were not taking aspirin, and three-quarters

were not receiving beta-blockers, commonly used to prevent repeat attacks.

And among people with the bone-thinning disease osteoporosis, more than 60

percent were not taking calcium supplements, and more than half were given

no treatment at all.

More than 60 percent subjects with congestive heart failure were not

receiving an angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor -- a common drug

for this condition -- and more than one-third of stroke patients were not

given drugs to prevent future blood clots, Sloane and his team report in the

Archives of Internal Medicine (news - web sites).

" The absence of potentially beneficial treatments in such high percentages

of residents of these facilities raises the specter of an important quality

problem in the care of older patients, " Dr. Jerry H. Gurwitz, told Reuters

Health.

Gurwitz, who wrote an editorial about the study and is based at the Meyers

Primary Care Institute, the Fallon Foundation and the University of

Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, added that many doctors hesitate

to prescribe medications to the elderly because there is little information

about drug safety in older populations. They may also fear the new

prescription could interfere with seniors' often-complicated drug regimens.

Including more elderly, particularly people with several conditions, in drug

studies might help address this problem, Gurwitz noted.

Meanwhile, he suggested that working with nurses and pharmacists may help

doctors avoid either under- or over-treating their elderly patients.

SOURCE: Archives of Internal Medicine, October 11, 2004.

[Guest guest]

http://story.news./news?tmpl=story & ncid=1417 & e=10 & u=/nm/20041011/hl_nm/\

elderly_medications_dc & sid=95832452

Many Assisted-Living Residents Are Undertreated

Mon Oct 11, 4:29 PM ET Health - Reuters

By Alison McCook

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The majority of elderly people in

assisted-living or residential care facilities are not receiving all of the

medications they need for four common conditions, according to new study

findings released Monday.

Traditionally, experts have worried about medication overuse among elderly

people. To investigate whether the elderly were also facing problems due to

a lack of needed medications, Dr. Philip D. Sloane of the University of

North Carolina in Chapel Hill and his colleagues reviewed the medical

records of 2014 people 65 years of age or older.

All study participants were residents of assisted living or residential care

facilities. Such residents tend to be less impaired than people living in

nursing homes, but are still provided with 24-hour supervision and help with

day-to-day activities.

Sloane and his colleagues found that among people with a history of heart

attack, more than 60 percent were not taking aspirin, and three-quarters

were not receiving beta-blockers, commonly used to prevent repeat attacks.

And among people with the bone-thinning disease osteoporosis, more than 60

percent were not taking calcium supplements, and more than half were given

no treatment at all.

More than 60 percent subjects with congestive heart failure were not

receiving an angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor -- a common drug

for this condition -- and more than one-third of stroke patients were not

given drugs to prevent future blood clots, Sloane and his team report in the

Archives of Internal Medicine (news - web sites).

" The absence of potentially beneficial treatments in such high percentages

of residents of these facilities raises the specter of an important quality

problem in the care of older patients, " Dr. Jerry H. Gurwitz, told Reuters

Health.

Gurwitz, who wrote an editorial about the study and is based at the Meyers

Primary Care Institute, the Fallon Foundation and the University of

Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, added that many doctors hesitate

to prescribe medications to the elderly because there is little information

about drug safety in older populations. They may also fear the new

prescription could interfere with seniors' often-complicated drug regimens.

Including more elderly, particularly people with several conditions, in drug

studies might help address this problem, Gurwitz noted.

Meanwhile, he suggested that working with nurses and pharmacists may help

doctors avoid either under- or over-treating their elderly patients.

SOURCE: Archives of Internal Medicine, October 11, 2004.

[Guest guest]

http://story.news./news?tmpl=story & ncid=1417 & e=10 & u=/nm/20041011/hl_nm/\

elderly_medications_dc & sid=95832452

Many Assisted-Living Residents Are Undertreated

Mon Oct 11, 4:29 PM ET Health - Reuters

By Alison McCook

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The majority of elderly people in

assisted-living or residential care facilities are not receiving all of the

medications they need for four common conditions, according to new study

findings released Monday.

Traditionally, experts have worried about medication overuse among elderly

people. To investigate whether the elderly were also facing problems due to

a lack of needed medications, Dr. Philip D. Sloane of the University of

North Carolina in Chapel Hill and his colleagues reviewed the medical

records of 2014 people 65 years of age or older.

All study participants were residents of assisted living or residential care

facilities. Such residents tend to be less impaired than people living in

nursing homes, but are still provided with 24-hour supervision and help with

day-to-day activities.

Sloane and his colleagues found that among people with a history of heart

attack, more than 60 percent were not taking aspirin, and three-quarters

were not receiving beta-blockers, commonly used to prevent repeat attacks.

And among people with the bone-thinning disease osteoporosis, more than 60

percent were not taking calcium supplements, and more than half were given

no treatment at all.

More than 60 percent subjects with congestive heart failure were not

receiving an angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor -- a common drug

for this condition -- and more than one-third of stroke patients were not

given drugs to prevent future blood clots, Sloane and his team report in the

Archives of Internal Medicine (news - web sites).

" The absence of potentially beneficial treatments in such high percentages

of residents of these facilities raises the specter of an important quality

problem in the care of older patients, " Dr. Jerry H. Gurwitz, told Reuters

Health.

Gurwitz, who wrote an editorial about the study and is based at the Meyers

Primary Care Institute, the Fallon Foundation and the University of

Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, added that many doctors hesitate

to prescribe medications to the elderly because there is little information

about drug safety in older populations. They may also fear the new

prescription could interfere with seniors' often-complicated drug regimens.

Including more elderly, particularly people with several conditions, in drug

studies might help address this problem, Gurwitz noted.

Meanwhile, he suggested that working with nurses and pharmacists may help

doctors avoid either under- or over-treating their elderly patients.

SOURCE: Archives of Internal Medicine, October 11, 2004.

[Guest guest]

http://story.news./news?tmpl=story & ncid=1417 & e=10 & u=/nm/20041011/hl_nm/\

elderly_medications_dc & sid=95832452

Many Assisted-Living Residents Are Undertreated

Mon Oct 11, 4:29 PM ET Health - Reuters

By Alison McCook

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - The majority of elderly people in

assisted-living or residential care facilities are not receiving all of the

medications they need for four common conditions, according to new study

findings released Monday.

Traditionally, experts have worried about medication overuse among elderly

people. To investigate whether the elderly were also facing problems due to

a lack of needed medications, Dr. Philip D. Sloane of the University of

North Carolina in Chapel Hill and his colleagues reviewed the medical

records of 2014 people 65 years of age or older.

All study participants were residents of assisted living or residential care

facilities. Such residents tend to be less impaired than people living in

nursing homes, but are still provided with 24-hour supervision and help with

day-to-day activities.

Sloane and his colleagues found that among people with a history of heart

attack, more than 60 percent were not taking aspirin, and three-quarters

were not receiving beta-blockers, commonly used to prevent repeat attacks.

And among people with the bone-thinning disease osteoporosis, more than 60

percent were not taking calcium supplements, and more than half were given

no treatment at all.

More than 60 percent subjects with congestive heart failure were not

receiving an angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor -- a common drug

for this condition -- and more than one-third of stroke patients were not

given drugs to prevent future blood clots, Sloane and his team report in the

Archives of Internal Medicine (news - web sites).

" The absence of potentially beneficial treatments in such high percentages

of residents of these facilities raises the specter of an important quality

problem in the care of older patients, " Dr. Jerry H. Gurwitz, told Reuters

Health.

Gurwitz, who wrote an editorial about the study and is based at the Meyers

Primary Care Institute, the Fallon Foundation and the University of

Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester, added that many doctors hesitate

to prescribe medications to the elderly because there is little information

about drug safety in older populations. They may also fear the new

prescription could interfere with seniors' often-complicated drug regimens.

Including more elderly, particularly people with several conditions, in drug

studies might help address this problem, Gurwitz noted.

Meanwhile, he suggested that working with nurses and pharmacists may help

doctors avoid either under- or over-treating their elderly patients.

SOURCE: Archives of Internal Medicine, October 11, 2004.