Medication management and prescribing in older people remains a challenging area of medicine. In an age when older people are consuming about four times as many drugs as the rest of the population, appropriate prescribing and medication management in this group are extremely important. Many studies of psychotropic medications focus on younger people, so a book providing a thorough analysis of pharmacological issues relevant to older people is most welcome. Psychopharmacological Issues in Geriatrics aims to deliver such an analysis, comprehensively reviewing issues related to the treatment of common psychogeriatric conditions for both medical and nursing practitioner readerships.
The editors have pharmacy, internal and geriatric medicine and mental health backgrounds and have included the latest evidence from around the world making it relevant to a global audience. Organized into very well referenced chapters, their work covers a broad range of relevant topics. Each chapter addresses clinically important issue including age-related pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic changes in the elderly, psychopharmacological interactions and pharmacovigilance. Important drug groups such as antidepressants, antipsychotics, anxiolytics, hypnotics and mood stabilizers are assigned separate chapters. The book concludes with chapters dealing with specific conditions such as Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease and the under-recognized issue of substance use disorders in the elderly. In addition, this work provides a good insight into the history and evolution of psychotropic drug use in the elderly.
We considered all chapters clinically relevant and found the chapter on potentially inappropriate medications in the elderly and those discussing the management of specific conditions particularly useful. Importantly, each individual chapter presents an easily accessible reference point for the topic outlined. In addition, each chapter takes less than an hour to read making it practical for clinicians to use. It also provides very comprehensive references to guide further reading. A minor criticism is that the text can prove cumbersome to read at times, most likely due to the text's translation from Spanish to English.
In summary, this is a useful reference book, with particular relevance to medical and nursing clinicians, as well as pharmacists caring for older people. It provides comprehensive, well-referenced and succinct information relevant to the appropriate prescribing and medication management in the psychogeriatric population.
