Jove
Visualize
Contact Us
JoVE
x logofacebook logolinkedin logoyoutube logo
ABOUT JoVE
OverviewLeadershipBlogJoVE Help Center
AUTHORS
Publishing ProcessEditorial BoardScope & PoliciesPeer ReviewFAQSubmit
LIBRARIANS
TestimonialsSubscriptionsAccessResourcesLibrary Advisory BoardFAQ
RESEARCH
JoVE JournalMethods CollectionsJoVE Encyclopedia of ExperimentsArchive
EDUCATION
JoVE CoreJoVE BusinessJoVE Science EducationJoVE Lab ManualFaculty Resource CenterFaculty Site
Terms & Conditions of Use
Privacy Policy
Policies

Related Concept Videos

Drug Dosing: Geriatric Patients01:15

Drug Dosing: Geriatric Patients

212
Elderly individuals encompass a diverse population with varying degrees of age-related physiological changes. Defining the elderly presents challenges, as the geriatric population is often arbitrarily categorized as individuals older than 65. However, many individuals in this group lead active and healthy lives, with an increasing number surpassing 85 years and falling into the older elderly category. Physiological changes associated with aging impact performance capacity and homeostatic...
212
Pharmacokinetics in Geriatric Patients: Effect of Age on Drug Distribution01:00

Pharmacokinetics in Geriatric Patients: Effect of Age on Drug Distribution

216
Drug distribution in the human body is influenced by several factors, including plasma protein concentration, body composition, blood flow, tissue-protein concentration, and tissue fluid pH. Among these, changes in plasma protein concentration and body composition due to aging significantly affect how drugs are distributed within the body. Specifically, aging is associated with a decrease in albumin levels by about 10% and an increase in α1-acid glycoprotein levels. These alterations are...
216
Pharmacodynamics in Geriatric Patients: Effects of Age01:27

Pharmacodynamics in Geriatric Patients: Effects of Age

180
Age-related pharmacokinetic changes are extensively documented, but understanding age-related pharmacodynamic alterations is relatively limited. This knowledge gap can be partly attributed to the complexity of developing appropriate measures of drug responses compared to bioanalytical methods for determining drug concentrations.Most information regarding age-related differences in human pharmacodynamics originates from cross-sectional studies. However, these studies assume that observed mean...
180
Pharmacokinetics in Geriatric Patients: Effect of Age on Drug Metabolism01:18

Pharmacokinetics in Geriatric Patients: Effect of Age on Drug Metabolism

183
Geriatric patients show significant variation in how their bodies process medications, which can change how effective and safe treatments are. The liver is the primary organ where drug metabolism occurs, involving two main types of chemical reactions: phase I and II. Phase I metabolism is driven by the cytochrome P450 enzyme system, which includes key types such as CYP3A, CYP2D6, and CYP2C9. Research indicates that while aging doesn't notably alter the levels or activity of these enzymes, it...
183
Pharmacokinetics in Geriatric Patients: Effect of Age on Drug Absorption01:22

Pharmacokinetics in Geriatric Patients: Effect of Age on Drug Absorption

212
As individuals age, their body's physiology evolves, affecting drug pharmacokinetics. The most apparent changes occur in the gastrointestinal tract, where an increase in gastric pH, a delay in gastric emptying, and a reduction in gastrointestinal motility are observed. Remarkably, these changes do not substantially modify the absorption of orally administered drugs, particularly those absorbed via passive diffusion.Transdermal drug delivery emerges as a highly viable method for older adults due...
212
Pharmacokinetics in Geriatric Patients: Effect of Age on Drug Excretion01:18

Pharmacokinetics in Geriatric Patients: Effect of Age on Drug Excretion

221
In geriatric patients, renal physiology undergoes significant changes, including diminished renal blood flow and a lower glomerular filtration rate (GFR), leading to alterations in medication clearance. Drugs such as aminoglycoside antibiotics, lithium, and digoxin, which rely on glomerular filtration for removal from the body, particularly impact pharmacokinetics. These drugs tend to have slower clearance rates in older adults, necessitating careful dosage considerations.Evaluation of renal...
221

You might also read

Related Articles

Articles linked to this work by shared authors, journal, and citation graph.

Sort by
Same author

Joint impact of the number of comorbidities and the COVID-19 pandemic on the concordance of antibiotic prescriptions with clinical guidelines, in the community.

BMC infectious diseases·2026
Same author

Initial Cardiovascular Disease Risk Assessment in Nonclinical Settings: Framingham-Simplified Model Predictive Performance in a Canadian Cohort.

CJC open·2026
Same author

[Polypharmacie et déprescription en milieu rural: étude qualitative auprès de personnes aînées et de personnes proches aidantes au Québec].

Canadian journal on aging = La revue canadienne du vieillissement·2026
Same author

2024/25 end-of-season KP.2 vaccine effectiveness against COVID-19 hospitalization in older adults: a test-negative study in Quebec, Canada.

Vaccine·2026
Same author

The Vagus Nerve conducts viable translocation of gut flora to the lungs that impacts interstitial lung disease severity in mice.

bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology·2026
Same author

Implementation of pharmacists' services into the care trajectory of older adults with neurocognitive disorder in multidisciplinary primary care clinics: A mixed-methods study.

Exploratory research in clinical and social pharmacy·2026

Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jan 9, 2026

Assessment of Dependence in Activities of Daily Living Among Older Patients in an Acute Care Unit
06:52

Assessment of Dependence in Activities of Daily Living Among Older Patients in an Acute Care Unit

Published on: September 30, 2020

10.4K

Polypharmacy as a Simple Measure for Assessing the Risk of Fall-Related Hospitalization in Older Adults.

Marie-Eve Gagnon1, Denis Talbot2, Marc Simard3

  • 1Faculté de pharmacie, Université Laval, Québec, Canada; Département des sciences de la santé, Université du Québec à Rimouski (UQAR), Lévis, Québec, Canada; Centre de recherche du CHU de Québec, Université Laval, Québec, Canada; Centre d'excellence sur le vieillissement de Québec, VITAM - Centre de recherche en santé durable, Québec, Canada.

American Journal of Preventive Medicine
|December 4, 2025
PubMed
Summary

Identifying medication use can help prevent falls in older adults. While several measures exist, polypharmacy is a simple, accessible indicator for fall-related hospitalizations.

More Related Videos

Using a Real-Time Locating System to Measure Walking Activity Associated with Wandering Behaviors Among Institutionalized Older Adults
04:13

Using a Real-Time Locating System to Measure Walking Activity Associated with Wandering Behaviors Among Institutionalized Older Adults

Published on: February 8, 2019

7.2K
Author Spotlight: Innovations in iTUG Test for Enhanced Risk Assessment and Cognitive Insights
05:26

Author Spotlight: Innovations in iTUG Test for Enhanced Risk Assessment and Cognitive Insights

Published on: October 25, 2024

1.7K

Related Experiment Videos

Last Updated: Jan 9, 2026

Assessment of Dependence in Activities of Daily Living Among Older Patients in an Acute Care Unit
06:52

Assessment of Dependence in Activities of Daily Living Among Older Patients in an Acute Care Unit

Published on: September 30, 2020

10.4K
Using a Real-Time Locating System to Measure Walking Activity Associated with Wandering Behaviors Among Institutionalized Older Adults
04:13

Using a Real-Time Locating System to Measure Walking Activity Associated with Wandering Behaviors Among Institutionalized Older Adults

Published on: February 8, 2019

7.2K
Author Spotlight: Innovations in iTUG Test for Enhanced Risk Assessment and Cognitive Insights
05:26

Author Spotlight: Innovations in iTUG Test for Enhanced Risk Assessment and Cognitive Insights

Published on: October 25, 2024

1.7K

Area of Science:

  • Gerontology
  • Pharmacoepidemiology
  • Public Health

Background:

  • Medication use is a significant, modifiable risk factor for falls in older adults.
  • Identifying individuals at high risk of falls is crucial for prevention and mitigating adverse outcomes.
  • The study aimed to determine the most effective medication-based metric for assessing fall-related hospitalization risk.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To identify the optimal medication-based measure for predicting fall-related hospitalization risk in older adults.
  • To compare the predictive performance of various medication-based metrics.

Main Methods:

  • A population-based cohort of individuals aged over 66 was established using the Quebec Integrated Chronic Disease Surveillance System.
  • Five medication-based measures were developed, including counts of medications, Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) classes, Fall-Risk-Increasing Drugs (FRIDs), and Potentially Inappropriate Medications (PIMs).
  • Sex-stratified Cox models were used to estimate Hazard Ratios (HRs) for fall-related hospitalization, with predictive performance assessed using c-statistics.

Main Results:

  • The study included over 1.1 million individuals (647,795 women, 529,725 men).
  • Hazard Ratios for fall-related hospitalization ranged from 1.43 (≥1 PIM, women) to 2.17 (≥10 medications, men).
  • The highest predictive performance was observed for ≥1 FRID (c-statistic: 0.735 women, 0.736 men), while ≥1 PIM showed the lowest (c-statistic: 0.724 women, 0.722 men).

Conclusions:

  • All evaluated medication-based measures demonstrated similar performance in assessing fall-related hospitalization risk.
  • From a public health perspective, simpler and more accessible measures like polypharmacy are valuable for surveillance and informing interventions.
  • These findings support using medication review as a strategy to identify and reduce fall risks in the elderly population.