One elderly person in three in Italy
takes as many as 10 medicines a day and not all of them are
useful, national drug agency AIFA said Wednesday.
It said this was now a major public-health problem and there was
a rising risk of harmful interactions between medications.
"If the presence of two or more diseases already characterizes
75% of people over sixty-five, this condition affects almost all
people over eighty," AIFA said.
"The direct consequence is the use of a high number of drugs, so
much so that one in three elderly people takes 10 or more a day,
but not always all necessary and often interacting with each
other."
The Italian Medicines Agency highlighted this "major" public
health problem during the presentation in Rome of the 'COSÌsiFA'
project, which aims to keep citizens and health workers informed
about medicines.
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