Implications of polypharmacy in the elderly and the pharmaceutical care contribution

Abstract

This study aimed to analyze what the scientific production addresses about the implications of polypharmacy in the elderly and the pharmaceutical care contribution. This is a literature review conducted by collecting data in the databases Lilacs, SciELO and Web of Science, from 2010 to August 2015. The search was conducted by the descriptors: pharmaceutical care, use drugs, polypharmacy and elderly. The results indicated that, among the implications of the use of polypharmacy among the elderly, there are: the reduction of pharmacological treatment and the increase in adverse events and mortality. One concludes that, despite the scientific productions addressing that polypharmacy is high in the elderly population and that it causes many negative impacts, there were few studies that discussed the importance of pharmaceutical care as a strategy to contribute to reduce those impacts