A news story in the Wall Street Journal. I have a slightly different take on this issue… I tend to think people are likely under-medicated in mid-life (not taking rapamycin, sglt2 inhibitors, statins, ezetimibe, etc.) which leads to excessive medications later in life…
America’s Seniors Are Overmedicated
For years, Barbara Schmidt’s family feared an illness was behind a pattern of terrifying falls that repeatedly landed the 83-year-old great-grandmother in surgery with broken bones. Instead, Schmidt’s frequent tumbles might have been tied to something else: medications intended to make her better.
Schmidt, who lives with her husband of 65 years in Lewes, Del., filled prescriptions for more than a dozen different drugs in the past year, according to pharmacy and medical records.
That isn’t unusual for America’s seniors, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of Medicare data. One in six of the 46 million seniors enrolled in Medicare’s drug benefit, which pays for most drugs taken by older Americans, were prescribed eight or more medications.
Schmidt is not alone. In 2022, 7.6 million seniors were simultaneously prescribed eight or more medications for at least 90 days.
Schmidt considers herself healthy—she still works a few days a week at a Marshalls store, and she is a dedicated crafter who creates intricate birthday cards for her four children, 14 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. But osteoporosis has made her bones brittle, while arthritis and back problems sometimes cause agony. Schmidt counts nine different operations over the years, including replacements for both hips and knees. She has also suffered from anxiety and sleep issues, largely related to the pain.
Read the full story: America’s Seniors Are Overmedicated (WSJ)