Taking Too Many Medications Can Pose a Risk for Older Adults With Heart Failure

A study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society found taking multiple medications can pose a number of health risks for older adults with heart issues, reports ConsumerAffairs . Investigators analyzed results from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 2003 through 2014. All respondents were 50 and older, considered frail, and had multiple chronic conditions that included anemia, arthritis, asthma, cancer, chronic kidney disease, coronary artery disease, dialysis, emphysema, high cholesterol, liver disease, prior heart attack, prior stroke, and thyroid disease. Close to 75 percent of all participants took at least five medications, and those who took more medication had a harder time completing day-to-day tasks. A quarter of the participants dealt with some kind of cognitive issue as a direct result of their drug regimen. Frailty was more frequent and occurred more quickly for respondents who were taking either between five and nine prescriptions or more than 10 prescriptions. "This suggests that providers may not sufficiently consider functional impairment when prescribing medications to adults with heart failure and thus may unnecessarily expose individuals to risk of adverse outcomes," the researchers concluded.