Nie za mało, nie za dużo, czyli jaką liczbą leków optymalnie leczyć choroby przewlekłe wśród osób starszych?

Managing older patients brings a lot of problems. On the one hand, the multimorbidity, which is typical for the elderly, is usually composed of numerous chronic diseases. This forces the doctors to prescribe multiple drugs. However, for both financial and practical reasons, the execution of such therapies is not easy, and as a result, elderly patients often do not adhere to the therapeutic recommendations. On the other hand, polypharmacy itself leads to drug-related problems, negative outcomes, increased use of healthcare services and rising costs. Due to its highest prevalence in the elderly, there is an urgent need for introducing effective strategies to prevent, and manage polypharmacy in this age group. Primary care physicians play important role in preventing, and managing polypharmacy in their elderly patients. Out of available interventions, the most practical ones that they may use are various types of drug reviews, which can be guided by validated tools (e.g. STOPP/START or Beers criteria). However, in daily practice, these effortful tasks are not easy to perform. Therefore, a simplified approach to drug reviews could be advised, e.g. based on Skills4Adherence polypharmacy management tool. In upcoming years, pharmacists may help polypharmacy management due to the expected introduction of pharmaceutical care in Poland.