Drug use in the elderly

The assessment od drugs taken by elderly people remains a difficult subject since epidemiological data on drug intake in this population is very limit ed. In a study undertaken in the context of the PAQUID project, drug use wa s screened in a group of 3 777 elderly people living at home in the Gironde and Dordogne regions of south-west France. In this group, 89.1 % of subjec ts take at least one drug per day, with an average daily intake of 4.1 drug s by 41 % of the group. One third of these elderly people take a benzodiaze pine drug. Excessive intake of drugs by elderly people is a phenomenon enco untered in Scandinavia and Italy but not in the United Kingdom.