More and more Americans are living longer, and two geriatricians are warning that the potential is great for the older Americans to suffer such calamities as malnutrition and mixing of medicines.
"In the next 25 years, the percent of people over 65 will about double," said Dr. Cherie Brunker, medical director of the Intermountain Health Care Senior Clinic at St. Joseph's Villa, 475 E. Ramona Ave. In Utah, the proportion will go from 13 percent to 23 percent of the population, she said.More than 75 percent of those 65 and older use at least one type of medicine, and many use several, she said. "When they are on more and more medications, they have an increased chance for side effects and drug interactions," she added.
Ten percent of hospital admissions for reasons other than surgical procedures are believed due to side effects of medicine, or interactions among medicines, she said.
Dr. Frank Yanowitz, chief of the Division of Geriatrics at LDS Hospital, Eighth Avenue and C Street, pointed out another scourge for the elderly: malnutrition.
"It's because of lack of money," he said. "Many older adults live alone. They're on fixed income, they have expensive medication, their income goes for their medication before it goes for their food sometimes."
Yanowitz and Brunker will address these kinds of problems on the monthly Deseret News/IHC Health Care Hotline on Saturday. They will be joined during the call-in service by Lance Stoker, psychiatrist at the IHC Senior Clinic at St. Joseph's Villa.
"The majority of older people are on medications, usually because of chronic problems like arthritis or heart disease or other medical problems," said Brunker. "When they are on more and more medications, they have an increased chance for side effects and drug interactions."
Also, many people don't view over-the-counter, or nonprescription, medications as medicines, so they often don't tell their doctors that they're taking them, she said. These include pain relievers, laxatives, antacids and vitamins.
These can react with prescription medicine or with each other. The most serious complication, potentially life-threatening, is bleeding caused by preparations that include aspirin or Ibuprofen.
The elderly also should "ask questions of their pharmacist or the doctor," Brunker said. When a new prescription is written, they should ask if it could cause any problems with the medicine they're already taking.
"People often get on more and more medicine, especially if they're seeing different doctors . . . I see people on 14, 16, 20 drugs," Brunker said. A doctor should be consulted about this, she added.
Yanowitz said that with an aging population, "the real challenge in geriatric medicine is keeping older adults functionally able to care for themselves and to maintain a level of good health as long as possible."
Prevention is essential for them: making sure they eat properly, exercising enough, taking their medicines according to instructions, getting shots when needed, going to screenings for cancer or other diseases.
One of the most common avoidable problems the elderly face is malnutrition, he said. Pressed with choices about what to purchase, "they may not be aware of the role of proper nutrition in maintaining health," he said.
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Additional Information
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Should osteoporosis concern older women? Can any treatment help those with arthritis? Are many elderly people depressed?
On Saturday, answers will be just a telephone call away. Three experts on geriatrics - Dr. Cherie Brunker and Dr. Frank Yanowitz and psychiatrist Lance Stoker - will share their expertise during the monthly Deseret News/ Intermountain Health Care Hospitals Hotline.
Yanowitz is chief of the Division of Geriatrics at LDS Hospital. Brunker is the medical director of the IHC Senior Clinic at St. Joseph's Villa, while Stoker is a psychiatrist at the clinic.
Anyone can call the hotline toll-free from throughout the region by dialing 1-800-925-8177. The hotline, a free public service by the Deseret News and IHC, will be open from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m.,