Drug disposition in the elderly: a review of the critical factors.

There are meaningful direct correlations between increasing patient age, the incidence of multiple pathologic conditions, and the implementation of polypharmacy regimens. The latter practice culminates in a significant increase in the incidence of adverse drug reactions in these patients. However, the reason the elderly often respond less favorably to many drugs in comparison with young or mature subjects remains unresolved, although the literature is replete with clinical studies that document this phenomenon. This paper presents the state of our knowledge to date.