Adverse reactions to just three drugs are responsible for one-third of all U.S. emergency room visits by seniors, according to a study reported by HealthDay.
In both 2004 and 2005, the diabetes drug insulin, the blood thinner warfarin, and the heart drug digoxin caused about 58,000 emergency room visits each year in persons 65 and older, researchers found. The study findings were published in the December 4 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine. Lead author Dr. Daniel Budnitz, a medical officer with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said it’s hard to determine the correct dose for each drug, and that it takes work between the physician and patient to get the dose just right.
With the number of diabetic clients only expected to increase in the future—and with seniors also commonly taking warfarin or digoxin—this information may be of real interest to you:
The researchers looked at several surveys of emergency room visits from 2004 and 2005. The study findings are published in the Dec. 4 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine.Forty-one drugs are on the list — called the BEERS criteria — of medications considered inappropriate for the elderly. But they accounted for just 3.6 percent of a total of about 177,000 annual emergency room visits.
Warfarin (also known as Coumadin), insulin and digoxin (which has a number of trade names) posed many more problems. (Digoxin is also on the list of potentially inappropriate drugs for the elderly, but it’s only listed as a potential problem if taken in certain situations.)
All three medications are well-known, commonly used drugs and all can create problems in some cases.
Warfarin, often prescribed to heart patients, prevents blood clots by thinning the blood, but can cause excessive bleeding if the blood becomes too thin. Insulin treats diabetes but can sometimes cause blood sugar levels to drop to dangerous levels. And digoxin, a long-used drug, can cause a variety of problems from nausea to erratic heartbeats.
In some cases, there aren’t good alternatives to these three drugs, although some doctors consider digoxin to have outlived its usefulness, the study authors noted.
Doctors can monitor the levels of all three drugs with blood tests, Budnitz said. Simple finger-prick blood tests allow testing of blood sugar levels, and similar tests measuring clotting ability are now available in some clinics for people taking warfarin, he said.
The study results are “a reminder that doctors and patients need to work on doing the best job we can managing these medicines,” Budnitz said. “The answer isn’t to take away medications.”
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