There are calls for a carefully-considered, tailored approach to the prescription of multiple medicines with new research finding a person\u2019s age and sex influence the impact of multiple medications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
More than half of older Australians take five or more regular medications, with the higher number of medications directly linked to a higher chance of adverse reactions, like falls, confusion and frailty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Researchers from the Ageing and Pharmacology Laboratory at the Kolling Institute, led by Professor Sarah Hilmer, used an experimental model to measure the impact of multiple medications, including high risk drug classes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The research confirmed the multiple medications had an adverse impact, reducing independence in daily living, increasing anxiety and reducing physical function including grip strength, motor endurance and gait speed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Further analysis found the negative impacts were influenced by age and sex.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The decline in independence and increase in anxiety were significantly greater in the old than in the young, while males were more likely to experience reduced grip strength than females.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Professor Hilmer said this was an important body of research and the first study to rigorously assess the effects of age and sex on susceptibility to the adverse impacts of multiple medications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\u201cThe research indicates that a one-size fits all approach to the prescription of multiple medications is not advised, and the differences in age and sex should be considered,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTo get the best outcomes from medications, we need to practice personalised medicine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s important to consider not only the person\u2019s diagnosis, but also their age, sex, other medications, other diseases, genetic and environmental factors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe would particularly like to see a more cautious approach when multiple medicines are prescribed for older people.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Co-first author Dr John Mach said further studies are needed to investigate the impact of a broader range of medications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\u201cWhile males were more susceptible to the regimen we tested, females may be more susceptible to other drug classes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOur study highlights the need for further investigations to ensure medication use across Australia is supported by scientific evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
Dr Harry Wu, who was also a co-first author, hopes the study will be the first of many to promote a more personalised approach to medication use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\u201cIt has been exciting to have the opportunity here at the Kolling to conduct this bedside to bench research, to help understand how to treat and monitor patients who take multiple medicines.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1812,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"research-group-tax":[],"primary-research-area":[],"class_list":["post-1811","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/thumb_Blog_N4_w550_h380_fcrop.webp",550,380,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/thumb_Blog_N4_w550_h380_fcrop-150x150.webp",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/thumb_Blog_N4_w550_h380_fcrop-300x207.webp",300,207,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/thumb_Blog_N4_w550_h380_fcrop.webp",550,380,false],"large":["https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/thumb_Blog_N4_w550_h380_fcrop.webp",550,380,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/thumb_Blog_N4_w550_h380_fcrop.webp",550,380,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/thumb_Blog_N4_w550_h380_fcrop.webp",550,380,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"ict-wordpress-support@sydney.edu.au","author_link":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/author\/ict-wordpress-supportsydney-edu-au\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"There are calls for a carefully-considered, tailored approach to the prescription of multiple medicines with new research finding a person\u2019s age and sex influence the impact of multiple medications. More than half of older Australians take five or more regular medications, with the higher number of medications directly linked to a higher chance of adverse…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/1811","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/1811\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5462,"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/1811\/revisions\/5462"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1811"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1811"},{"taxonomy":"research-group-tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/research-group-tax?post=1811"},{"taxonomy":"primary-research-area","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kollinginstitute.org.au\/staging\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/primary-research-area?post=1811"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}