Medicalization

Many older people are summoned by their general practitioner for an annual health check. During a routine visit they may be told they have hypertension, diabetes or high cholesterol; that they obese; eat unhealthily and drink too much. As a result, many are started on prescription drugs.

Do we fully understand what is the difference between relative and absolute risk before started on a regime of prescriptions drugs? We rely on reasoning that prescriptions reduce the risk by 25-35% and all with apparent risks should be treated the same. Is reasoning brought on by comparisons made by the treatment in question with no treatment, placebo, or another pill? Did you know it is said that about 75 mildly hypertensive elderly people may have to be treated before one is treated, preventing a stroke. Often, in the 74 others, scant attention is paid to potential side effects derived from treatments. It is said the cardiovascular system becomes more rigid with advancing age, and reduction of mild hypertension can lead to vertigo. This side effect in elderly people adds a hazard of falling, hence the relative risk has now lead to an elderly who may not have ever been an absolute risk now being a patient due a fall. Blockers may lower blood pressure, they can also slow activity, mental and physical.

The actual evidence for the benefit of treating any risk factor in age groups over 70 needs much more consideration when applied to an individual. Prevention among young and middle aged adults should be encouraged and supported, but should treatment equally fit the elderly? It seems fewer elderly people are allowed to enjoy being healthy and become patients due to side effects of prescriptions prescribed in the possibility of overdiagnosis, overtreatment, and unnecessary anxiety.