Owing to the aging population,
many patients find themselves on
multiple drugs, which may expose them
to adverse effects from interactions.
Polypharmacy can be appropriate (when
a patient is being treated for more than
one long-term condition, for example),
but it may be inappropriate if a patient
is taking medicines to treat the sideeffects
of other medications, or several
drugs with similar actions. The potential
for drug interactions is 6% when taking
two different drugs, 50% when taking
five different drugs and 100% when
taking eight or more drugs (Crouch and
Chapelhow, 2008).