Prescription Drug Abuse in the Elderly In the United States

Prescription Drug Abuse in the Elderly
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PRESCRIPTION DRUG ABUSE IN THE ELDERLY
In the United States, prescription drug abuse is believed to be on rise presently than ever before, the leading age group in this kind of abuse being the elderly. This is because the elderly tend to take more prescription medication than the other age groups due to many health complications experienced in the old age. Prescription drug abuse has mostly been recorded among elderly persons from the age of sixty years and older, while those at the age of sixty five years and beyond account for a portion of one-third of the total medication prescribed. This registers a disproportionate of the entire population as it is represented by thirteen percent of the population in the United States (Golden, Roos, Silverman & Beers, 2010). Thus, a quick solution to this grievous problem is crucial so that the nation may attain healthy and contented population. Effectively, the Healthy People initiative is focusing on the most efficient ways of reducing and hopefully eradicating the increasing cases of prescription drug abuse that leads to the frustrations of the elderly. It is significant to identify the current trend of prescription drug abuse among the elderly, through reviews of various data to assist in investigating the strategies used to control the problem and the ways of improving them.
The characteristics that are commonly shared among the elderly might have contributed to the increase of prescription drug abuse. Research has shown that when most people approach the age of sixty-five, they start developing health complications that attract prescription drugs from doctors. This continuous intake of drugs leads to addiction and they continue taking even during the non-prescribed times. Moreover, women are reported to have higher cases of prescription drug abuse than men, which may be contributed to further health complication in their system. An approximation of twelve percent of the health expenditures of the United States are said to be set apart for the prescription of drugs. More so, this amount of money continues to rise among the elderly people as reported by researchers (Bloch, Thibaud, Dugué, Brèque, Rigaud & Kemoun, 2011). In addition, the amount of money spent by the elderly on the prescriptions ranges around fifteen billion every year, which arithmetically is four times compared to the spending of the younger persons. The elderly are subjected to taking numerous drugs because most of them are likely to have increased medical conditions. Moreover, this group is also in the category of the problem of prescription drug misuse that is categorized as under dose, overdose, using prescriptions for other reasons besides the ones prescribed for, as well as combinations of drugs likely to interact poorly. The reasons why the elderly tend to misuse drugs is said to be challenges of being able to read and follow prescriptions, cost of meds, complication of the treatment of the drug as well as cognitive deficits, among others. In some cases, prescription drug abuse happens unintentionally like in occasions where the elderly patients take numerous medications prescribed by several doctors. But some of the main explanations why the elderly are more vulnerable to addiction of prescribed drugs are that they become dependent on them to ease joint pain, injuries from falls and sleeping problems. Most of the prescribed drugs likely to be taken by the elderly may affect various parts such as the cardiovascular, musculoskeletal problems and nervous system. This may be the reason why the elderly individuals start losing coordination since their minds have been affected. Memory loss among other mental and physical complications emerges from prescription drug abuse among the old people. The drugs that are popularly known to be frequently abused by this age group are opiates, which are taken to relieve pain.
It is evident that majority population affected by this problem is the elderly group. The majority cases happen among the senior adults as they take the prescription drugs for genuine health reasons. The changes that are associated with age in pharmacokinetics as well as the psychological factors are likely to have exceptional impacts on the exacerbation and onset of problems of drug. This may happen as they relate to the drug problem prevalence among the Americans that are aging. A number of elderly individuals have been discovered to have used the drugs knowingly and for wrong the intentions. For instance, some of them experience loneliness after the departure of their loved ones and if they reside alone and thus they decide to overdose either to end their lives or lure them an easing condition. There is a great acknowledgement that the abuse and use of nonmedical prescription drugs is likely to be compounded soon as the population of the elderly. This is known for its current acceptance and history of both illicit and licit taking of drugs, creeping into the lifestyle of older adulthood (Juurlink, Gomes, Ko, Szmitko, Austin, Tu & Mamdani, 2009). Statistically, the elderly are half of the total people being treated for the disorder of substance abuse. Yet, there is barely any research that contently concludes on the factors that associate with the use and abuse of nonmedical prescription drugs among the elderly. Furthermore, it was discovered that the gender of female appeared as among the most important immutable predictors. This is quite contradictive to the norm and literatur...