Older adults and medication use guidelines More drugs are prescribed to people over age 65 than to any other group in America.
Older adults consume one quarter of all drugs prescribed in the United States.
Because the elderly are the largest single group of people using prescription and non-prescription drugs, they also are the group most likely to have problems with them. One in five older adults has experienced undesirable reactions to prescription medications. There are a variety of age-related reasons that explain why seniors have more than twice as many adverse reactions to medications as do younger individuals. Decreases in the motility and gastric acid secretion in the digestive tract can slow a drug's passage through the stomach and intestines. The kidneys and liver become less efficient, meaning it takes longer for drugs to be flushed from the body.