Throughout this course, you have explored pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics. While many patient factors may impact these processes and result in adverse drug reactions, age is often the cause. This creates the potential for a variety of issues when prescribing drugs to pediatric and geriatric patients. In terms of drug therapy for these two patient groups, it is essential to consider the harm versus benefit ratio of drug treatments. Are the benefits worth the risk? According to a study published in The New England Journal of Medicine, nearly half of hospitalizations for adverse drug events involved geriatric patients (Budnitz, Lovegrove, Shehab, and Richards, 2011). Pediatric patients follow closely behind due to issues with dosing and polypharmacy.

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