Antirheumatic drugs in older adults and polypharmacy issues.

Coskun Benlidayi İ., Gokce Kutsal Y.

Zeitschrift fur Gerontologie und Geriatrie, 2021 (SCI-Expanded) identifier identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası:
  • Basım Tarihi: 2021
  • Doi Numarası: 10.1007/s00391-021-01907-6
  • Dergi Adı: Zeitschrift fur Gerontologie und Geriatrie
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Science Citation Index Expanded (SCI-EXPANDED), Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI), Scopus, BIOSIS, EMBASE, MEDLINE, Psycinfo
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: Antirheumatic drugs, Disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs, Geriatrics, Rheumatology, Treatment, RHEUMATOID-ARTHRITIS, EFFICACY, CARE
  • Çukurova Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

Older individuals experience various noninflammatory and autoimmune inflammatory rheumatic diseases. Given the increased incidence of rheumatic conditions in older adults, it is of great importance for healthcare providers to be aware of the potential benefits and risks of antirheumatic drugs. The present article aims to provide a comprehensive review regarding antirheumatic drug use in older patients, particularly by focusing on safety issues and polypharmacy. Antirheumatic medications include nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), glucocorticoids and disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs), which comprise conventional synthetic DMARDs, targeted synthetic DMARDs and biological DMARDs. Due to the alteration in drug pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics in old people, antirheumatic drug efficiency and safety may be different than in the younger population. Polypharmacy and multimorbidity are other potential challenges to be faced during the treatment of older patients with rheumatic diseases. The current review also discusses the strategies to minimize adverse reactions due to antirheumatic drugs.