Drugs & aging
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Elderly people represent the fastest-growing segment of our society and undergo surgery more frequently than other age groups. Effective postoperative analgesia is essential in these patients because inadequate pain control after surgery is associated with adverse outcomes in elderly patients. However, management of postoperative pain in older patients may be complicated by a number of factors, including a higher risk of age- and disease-related changes in physiology and disease-drug and drug-drug interactions. ⋯ For postoperative pain treatment, most drugs (e.g. paracetamol, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, nefopam, tramadol, codeine, morphine, local anaesthetics), techniques (e.g. intravenous morphine titration, subcutaneous morphine, intravenous or epidural patient-controlled analgesia, intrathecal morphine, peripheral nerve block) and strategies (e.g. anticipated intraoperative analgesia or multimodal analgesia) used for acute pain management can be used in older patients. However, in view of pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic changes in older persons, the higher incidence of co-morbidities and concurrent use of other drugs, each must be carefully adjusted to suit each patient. Evaluation of treatment efficacy and incidence and severity of adverse events should be monitored closely, and the concept of 'start low and go slow' should be adopted for most analgesic strategies.
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Postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) represents a potentially debilitating and often undertreated form of neuropathic pain that disproportionately affects vulnerable populations, including the elderly and the immunocompromised. Varicella zoster infection is almost universally prevalent, making prevention of acute herpes zoster (AHZ) infection and prompt diagnosis and aggressive management of PHN of critical importance. Despite the recent development of a herpes zoster vaccine, prevention of AHZ is not yet widespread or discussed in PHN treatment guidelines. ⋯ Given the low systemic drug exposure, adverse events with topical therapies are generally limited to application-site reactions, which are typically mild and transient with lidocaine 5 % patch, but may involve treatment-limiting discomfort with capsaicin cream or 8 % patch. Based on available clinical data, clinicians should consider administering the herpes zoster vaccine to all patients aged 60 years and older. Clinicians treating patients with PHN may consider a trial of lidocaine 5 % patch monotherapy before resorting to a systemic therapy, or alternatively, may consider administering the lidocaine 5 % patch in combination with a tricyclic antidepressant or a gabapentinoid to provide more rapid analgesic response and lower the dose requirement of systemic therapies.
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In patients with dementia, undertreatment of pain, irrespective of its aetiology, is widely recognized; the risk for undertreatment increases with the severity of dementia. We argue, however, that central neuropathic pain is by far the most undertreated type of pain in patients with dementia. Central pain is a type of neuropathic pain that is known to occur in stroke patients and is caused by white matter lesions. ⋯ Antidepressants and antiepileptic drugs appear to have a positive effect on central neuropathic pain. In the review, advantages and disadvantages of amitriptyline, carbamazepine, lamotrigine, gabapentin and pregabalin are discussed; a negative effect of these drugs on liver and kidney functions, as well as on cognitive functions in patients who already suffer from cognitive impairment is highlighted. Next to pharmacotherapy, non-pharmacological treatment strategies such as transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation may be effective as long as afferent pathways transmitting the electrical stimulus are still intact.
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In the treatment of chronic malignant and non-malignant pain, opioids are used as strong analgesics. Frail elderly patients often have multiple co-morbidities and use multiple medicines, leading to an increased risk of clinically relevant drug-drug and drug-disease interactions. Age-related changes and increased frailty may lead to a less predictable drug response, increased drug sensitivity, and potential harmful drug effects. ⋯ Nevertheless, tapentadol may prove to be a useful analgesic for the treatment of chronic pain in frail elderly persons because of its possible better gastrointestinal tolerability. In the treatment of chronic pain in the frail elderly, the opioids of first choice are buprenorphine, fentanyl, hydromorphone, morphine and oxycodone. In order to improve the convenience for elderly patients, the controlled-release oral dosage forms and transdermal formulations are preferred.
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Drug-induced parkinsonism (DIP) has been claimed to be the most prevalent cause of secondary parkinsonism in clinical practice in the Western world. Since the first descriptions in the early 1950s the prevalence of DIP seems to be increasing and approaching that of idiopathic Parkinson's disease (iPD) due to the aging of the population and the rising of polypharmacotherapy. Despite the wide interest this subject has raised in the past, it seems to be frequently overlooked by the medical community. ⋯ Levodopa and dopamine receptor agonists might be an option in selected cases in which dopamine nerve terminal defects are present. The weight and scope of DIP varies with the age and underlying health of the patient, imposing a significant burden on the elderly who, in many cases, experience significant functional deterioration that leads to hospitalization and has vast economic consequences. This article reviews the epidemiology, pathogenic mechanisms, implicated drugs, clinical features and management of DIP and highlights the need for increased awareness of this iatrogenic condition.