Drug box: A novel stratergic tool to minimize pill burden and polypharmacy in geriatric population

Abstract

Longevity and graceful ageing is what every elderly yearns for. With advances in better health care, better standards and newer modalities of medical expertise the elderly population is in a phase three of demographic transition and the number of elderly in India are on the rise. With increasing age comes the prospect of multiple morbidities. The current medical practice guidelines often require multiple medications to treat each chronic disease state for optimal clinical benefit and poly-pharmacy is inevitable. The multiple drugs when consumed in excess or in lesser dosage can in turn result in adverse drug reactions. An elders body responds in a different manner from the adult body mechanism especially with respect to drug-drug interactions, reduced organ functional capacities and most importantly medication non compliance due to morbidities of ageing viz. dementia, blindness, etc. Also there is accumulation of toxic products of drug metabolism due to pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamics changes occurring with advancing age. A Novel substitute for pill burden and poly pharmacy3 is the drug box.3 A simple, cost-effective tool for the elderly, which helps in appropriate storage of medicines having compartments which coincide with the number of days in a week or a month, with divisions as per doses. Few boxes even show the time of the day during which the drug must be taken. Drug dispensers are high tech pill boxes keep the medications locked till the time it needs to be taken, and dispenses it at the right time thus prevents drug over dosage. This is very helpful for the elderly patients who suffer from dementia and those who are on multiple drug therapies. Keywords: Drug box, Novel tool, Pill burden.