Mallet
et al suggest a simple approach to the problem, and summarizes
it in three categories, which are adverse reactions by
pharmacologic interactions; patients who consume multiple
medications and/or have multiple diseases (nine or more
medications and five or more comorbidities); and the “prescription
cascade” phenomenon, where the adverse effect of
a medication leads to the prescription of another agent which
at the same time causes a new secondary effect which would
add a new medication.