Systemic medication use and health status in the older adult population

Elderly adults have more ocular and systemic disorders than younger adults; there is a corresponding rise in the number of medications used by older adults. Additional medication usage contributes to an increase in the number of adverse drug reactions and also interferes with the efficacy of medications. In this self-report study, the number and types of medications used by older adults (N = 50) vs. middle-aged adults (N = 20) and the systemic health status of these two groups are assessed. Significant differences were determined between the two age groups for drug usage (p = 0.0964, Fisher's exact test), for specific drug categories, the total number of reported health and ocular disorders (p = 0.0001, t-test), and the types of health disorders. These results emphasize the importance of accurate case histories in determining ocular and systemic health conditions and their associated treatment and in the detection of inappropriate drug usage.