Pharmacogeriatrics and the Kidney

Older people constitute a particular group regarding pharmacotherapeutics for many reasons. They are high consumers of prescription drugs (up to 30% of all commonly prescribed medications); the age-related pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic changes and high rate of comorbidities put them at an increased risk of drug interactions, adverse effects, and inadequate dosing. In this chapter we are going to describe how physiology changes secondary to aging can predispose elderly people to suffer from pharmacological adverse effects and their impact over the pharmacology of drugs may help to optimize drug use and to avoid complications in this age group.