Geriatric emergency clinical pharmacology

Drugs associated with elderly individuals seen in the Emergency Department must be understood both as causal or etiologic agents of certain common presentations and as therapeutic tools. Special problems of the elderly include their increased frequency and altered patterns of drug use as compared with younger persons. They are predisposed to problems with certain drugs because of altered hepatic blood flow, renal clearance, body composition, sensitivities, and compliance that result from age. Most important, the practitioner is now provided with a set of resources, including lists of common presentations in the Emergency Department and specific drugs that must be considered to be potential etiologic or causative agents for that presentation. In addition, therapeutic agents for both physicians and elderly patients are presented in catechism.