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The majority of elderly people in assisted-living or residential care facilities are not receiving all of the medications they need for four common conditions, according to new study findings, a Reuters report stated.
To investigate whether the elderly were facing problems due to a lack of needed medications, Dr. Philip D. Sloane of the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill and his colleagues reviewed the medical records of 2,014 people 65 years of age or older, Reuters reported.
All study participants were residents of assisted-living or residential care facilities. Such residents tend to be less impaired than people living in nursing homes, but are still provided with 24-hour supervision and help with day-to-day activities, the researchers reported.
Sloane and his colleagues found that among people with a history of heart attack, more than 60 percent were not taking aspirin, and three-quarters were not receiving beta-blockers, commonly used to prevent repeat attacks. And, among people with the bone-thinning disease osteoporosis more than 60 percent were not taking calcium supplements, and more than half were given no treatment at all, the Reuters report noted.
More than 60 percent of subjects with congestive heart failure were not receiving an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor -- a common drug for this condition -- and more than one-third of stroke patients were not given drugs to prevent future blood clots, Sloane and his team reported in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
"The absence of potentially beneficial treatments in such high percentages of residents of these facilities raises the specter of an important quality problem in the care of older patients," Dr. Jerry H. Gurwitz told Reuters.
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