Authors of a recent study, specific to Australia, have identified 19 medications which may cause more harm than benefit among older people...
For Professor Mark Morgan, Chair of RACGP Expert Committee – Quality Care, the list is ‘a helpful and practical resource’.
In particular he drew attention to a table (see Table 2 in article) detailing the comorbidities which make each of the 19 medicines a high risk in the elderly.
However, he also notes one area where he believes more detail would be useful.
‘In the list of safer alternatives, paracetamol features frequently as an alternative to NSAIDs or opioids for analgesia,’ he told newsGP.
‘While this might be true from a safety perspective it should be noted that the evidence of efficacy of paracetamol for some painful conditions is limited.
‘Low back pain and osteoarthritis are examples where many patients don’t see a benefit from paracetamol.
‘I see this list of medicines as a helpful resource but it would be more helpful still if there was a layer of evidence-synthesis underpinning the various recommendations so we could trust they are based on the best available information, rather than just collected wisdom from multiple experts.
‘I hope there is opportunity to build on this initial work to ensure the alternatives that are suggested are the best available.’
Quality use of medicines
General practice