Assessing general practitioners' prescribing behaviour in elderly patients with concealed renal failure.

摘要

Many avoidable adverse drug reactions (ADR) in elderly patients are due to an absence of dose adjustment according to renal function . Nephron loss is a normal ageing process, leading to a lower glomerular filtration rate (GFR). Many drugs and/or their metabolites are excreted through the kidney; thus, the risk of ADR is increased if dose is not adjusted as a function of creatinine clearance (CC). However, despite a lower GFR, serum creatinine concentration may be normal in elderly patients because the rate of production of creatinine is dependent on dietary intake and muscle mass .