Musculoskeletal Drug Therapy for Geriatric Patients

How can we safely and effectively treat musculoskeletal disorders in this fast-growing population?

Musculoskeletal Drug Therapy for Geriatric Patients is an essential reference for pharmacists, physicians, and nurses who plan treatment for elderly patients suffering from post-menopausal osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, and gout or hyperuricemia. The medical cost of these common ailments is staggering: osteoporosis alone causes more than 1.5 million fractures each year with annual costs to the health system of approximately $14 billion. The human cost--in pain, disfigurement, restricted movement, and lost work--is incalculable.

Today pioneering research is being done, and new drugs have become available to alleviate patients'suffering. Musculoskeletal Drug Therapy for Geriatric Patients offers detailed discussions of the newest drug treatments and recent findings on older medications. For example, many authorities agree that acetominophen should be frontline therapy of degenerative arthritis in the elderly, yet the most common adverse drug reaction of geriatric patients in long-term care is for NSAID gastropathy. This book suggests safer options, including the newest COX-2 inhibitors and disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs.

Musculoskeletal Drug Therapy for Geriatric Patients offers clear strategies for the assessment and treatment of these painful, debilitating disorders in the elderly. Including tables and charts that comprehensively list test results, Musculoskeletal Drug Therapy for Geriatric Patients provides solid advice on the issues of medical management of these common diseases.

This valuable book examines specific issues, including:

• the newest COX-2 inhibitors and how they work
• the evaluation, diagnosis, and management of osteoporosis
• osteoarthritis and its drug therapy
• a scholarly assessment of geriatric rheumatoid arthritis and its treatment. dosage, contraindications, and possible negative effects of various medications
• determining the need for chronic prophylactic therapy in patients with gout or hyperuricemia

Although none of these musculoskeletal diseases can yet be cured, effective drug therapy can keep them in check. Musculoskeletal Drug Therapy for Geriatric Patients will help you give your patients the most powerful new treatments with the fewest side effects, thereby improving their quality of life.