Abstracts by keywords: FORTA list
The aging of our population is now accepted as an important issue at a political level - especially at a health policy level. The great burden on social systems is due, among other things, to the fact that older patients are known to be sicker than younger ones [an 80-year-old has on average just over three relevant diagnoses (van den Akker et al. 1998)], each of which is treated according to the applicable guidelines become. This results in so-called polypharmacy (at least five drugs): In the USA, men over 65 years old take five or more drugs in 44% cases, women in 57% cases, and even ten or more drugs in 12% cases (Kaufman et al. 2001). In Germany, a third of patients over 62 receive more than five medications daily (Barmer GEK Drug Regulation Report 2013). Drug side effects – particularly, of course, in these polypharmacy patients – are now the fourth most common cause of death in the United States (Light 2010).