Are Preventive Drugs Overused at the End of Life in Older Adults With Cancer?

A study published in Cancer found preventive medications are regularly prescribed during the last year of life of older adults with cancer, even though their delivery of meaningful benefits is unlikely, reports Medical Xpress . For older people with cancer, the benefit of each additional drug gradually declines, while the risk of harm is elevated as the disease progresses. Benefits may be especially limited for preventive drugs, because such medications frequently take several years to achieve their goal. For persons with advanced cancer, the added value of starting or continuing preventive drugs seems low, given that their remaining life expectancy may be too short to realize any of the intended benefits. The researchers determined among 151,201 older adults who died with cancer, the average number of drugs they took rose 6.9 to 10.1 throughout the last year of life, and the percentage of individuals using 10 or more drugs climbed from 26 percent to 52 percent. Administration of preventive drugs — like antihypertensives, platelet aggregation inhibitors, anticoagulants, statins, and oral antidiabetics — was often continued until the last month of life. The implication is that reducing the use of preventive medications in people with advanced cancer near the end of life may lessen unnecessary side effects, improve the individual's quality of life, and lower their financial costs.