Age-related prescribing patterns in general practice.

To examine differences in prescribing patterns in relation to patient age, all drugs dispensed during 1 week in a sample of community pharmacies were recorded. The mean number of drugs per prescription increased linearly from 1.5 in children aged 0-9 years to 2.8 in patients 80 years and over. The rate of prescribing of diuretics, benzodiazepines, non-steroidal antiinflammatory agents and drugs acting on the cardiovascular system increased markedly with advancing age. Drugs with a low therapeutic ratio were also prescribed more frequently for patients over 65 years. Psychotropic agents (15.9%), diuretics (13.8%) and cardiovascular drugs (13.7%) were the most commonly prescribed drugs in this age group. While a minority of elderly patients were prescribed a large number of drugs, prescribing rates overall did not appear excessive.