By Hayley Kirsh
Female seniors living in Canada are 10 per cent more likely to take inappropriate medication like incorrect dosage amounts in comparison to male seniors, according to data obtained from the Canadian Institute for Health Information.
Sylvia King, 82, was almost one of the many senior women included in this statistic before she noticed an error on her prescription bottle. “I had just gotten home from picking up my (prescription) renewal and I saw the milligram dosage on the bottle was 25mg higher than my old bottle.”
Concerned about the difference, King contacted her pharmacy to find out where the mistake was made. “I haven’t been to the doctor in a while so it couldn’t have changed,” she says. “I called and the pharmacist said it must have been a mistake with the label but to come back so they could make sure there wasn’t an error in sizing of the prescription.”
Although the mistake was corrected, King feels very lucky she took the time to read the bottle because a lot of people, especially with renewals, she says, wouldn’t look twice because they assume that nothing changes from pick-up to pick-up.
The latest statistics from 2015-2016 show that senior women aged 65 and up have an approximately 50 per cent chance of taking inappropriate medication.
But as Sarah Cohen, a board certified geriatric pharmacist (BCGP) points out, “Inappropriate is a huge umbrella term.” Inappropriate, she explains, could mean wrong dose, right medicine, may cause an allergic reaction and/or reactions to medication an individual is already on.
A study of the same nature completed in 2016 by the University of British Columbia shows that of the prescriptions taken, “Women receive inappropriate prescriptions for benzodiazepines, tricyclic antidepressants and NSAIDs more frequently than men.”
Benzodiazepines act as minor tranquilizers and tricyclic antidepressants are used in treating depression according to the American Addictions Centre.
“Women are prescribed more medication than men because women are more likely to complain about symptoms than men are,” says Cohen.
It’s not a joke, the 13-year pharmaceutical veteran explains, “When I was taking the CGP (certified geriatric pharmacy) course, I was taught that older men do not complain. We’re talking about someone who is say 90 years old today, they were taught that men are supposed to be strong and stoic and to keep their mouth shut and take an aspirin.”
The UBC study suggests that a woman’s risks are higher because of gender norms built within society and therefore incorporated into the medical community, “Approaches to address inappropriate prescribing must include changing the norms and expectations of both prescribers and patients.”
Other ways of ensuring that seniors are getting appropriate medication is through government funding that pays pharmacists to do quarterly reviews, says Cohen. These reviews entail assessing every single medication someone takes. The pharmacist sees if the dose is right, is it interacting with anything, is the person feeling better/worse and then makes suggestions like maybe the dose should be increased or lowered.
Men reaching their senior years are becoming more vocal with their symptoms and pain. “Give it 5-10 years,” Cohen says. “Men will definitely start advocating for themselves and I think the numbers will change.”