This article serves as a great reminder that our older patients are on a significant amount of medications and many of these medications effect cognition. Cognitively impaired patients are at risk of medication errors. High risk medications in older patients include anticoagulants, opioids, anticholinergics, hypoglycemic/insulin and sedating medications.  The authors found: 

• “In unadjusted analyses and analyses adjusted for a variety of demographic and clinical factors, older adults with cognitive impairment living alone were exposed to a similar number of high-risk medications as those living with others, while at the same time receiving less support from others for medication management.”

It is important to ask how the patient takes (or doesn’t take) their medications as well as other social determinate of health such as living alone.

References

Journal of the American Geriatrics SocietyEarly View

CLINICAL INVESTIGATION

High-risk medication use among older adults with cognitive impairment living alone in the United States

Matthew E. Growdon MD, MPH, Bocheng Jing MS, Kristine Yaffe MD, Leah S. Karliner MD, MAS, Katherine L. Possin PhD, Elena Portacolone MBA, MPH, PhD, W. John Boscardin PhD, Krista L. Harrison PhD, Michael A. Steinman MD

First published: 26 July 2024

https://doi.org/10.1111/jgs.19108