Medication Misuse and Dependence Among Elderly

Summary

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Description

Elderly represent a particularly vulnerable group with many contributing factors including age-related multifactorial morbidity, cognitive function, polypharmacy, dependence and multiple prescribers with suboptimal communication. Centrally active pain killers and sedative/hypnotic medications give i...

Elderly represent a particularly vulnerable group with many contributing factors including age-related multifactorial morbidity, cognitive function, polypharmacy, dependence and multiple prescribers with suboptimal communication. Centrally active pain killers and sedative/hypnotic medications give increased risk of addiction, adverse drug events, reduced physical and/or cognitive function. The project comprises diagnostic accuracy, descriptive screening, cross-sectional and case-control studies, with aims to: i) assess diagnostic utility of instruments for elderly patients; ii) describe risk factors for medication misuse and dependence; iii) describe consequences of the use of centrally active medications among elderly compared to a control population. Moreover, the investigators aim to examine the association between medication misuse and changes in cognitive function, focusing on deficits in specific domains of cognition. An additional aim is to explore the possibility of dissociating such cognitive changes from other causes of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) associated with development of dementia.

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