Medication usage in a spinal cord injured population

The patterns of medication usage in persons with a spinal cord injury (SCI) in a residential facility have been studied. This population averaged over eight (8) medications per person, took 70% of this medication from five (5) therapeutic categories (MIMS) and thus took multiple medications from individual categories. This level of medication usage is higher than what has been published for elderly populations, who are considered 'at risk' of medication misadventure. The SCI population was predominantly young and as yet, taking few medications for treating age related conditions. Thus, the level of medication use might be expected to increase further in this population.