Ava Austi
AP Biology
Current Event #19
March 18, 2018
“A Quiet Drug Problem Among the Elderly.”
Span, Paula. “A Quiet Drug Problem Among the Elderly.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 16 Mar. 2018.
In the article, “A Quiet Drug Problem Among the Elderly” by Paula Span from The New York Times, it discusses how geriatricians and researchers have sounded the alarm about the use of benzodiazepines among older adults. Often called “benzos,” the problem drugs include Valium (diazepam), Klonopin (clonazepam), Xanax (alprazolam) and Ativan (lorazepam).The cautions have had scant effect: Use of the drugs has risen among older people, even though they are particularly vulnerable to the drugs’ ill effects. Many patients take them for years, though they’re recommended only for short periods. Now the opioid epidemic has generated fresh warnings, because pain relievers like Vicodin (hydrocodone with Tylenol) and OxyContin (oxycodone) are also frequently prescribed for older people. When patients take both, they’re at risk for overdosing. “Why are opioids dangerous? They stop you from breathing, and they have more power to do that when you’re also taking a benzo,” said Keith Humphreys, a Stanford University researcher and co-author of a disturbing editorial about overuse and misuse of benzodiazepines last month in the New England Journal of Medicine. Numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention tell the story: In 1999, it tallied just 63 benzodiazepine-related deaths among those aged 65 and older. Almost 29 percent also involved an opioid. By 2015, benzo deaths in that age group had jumped to 431, with more than two-thirds involving an opioid. (Benzo-related deaths in all age groups totaled 8,791.) Persuading older people that benzos can hurt them — and that alternative treatments like cognitive behavioral therapy and improved sleep hygiene can be as effective for insomnia, though they take longer — has proved an uphill fight.
Without a doubt, this issue among the elderly affect societies. These drugs cause a range of symptoms to those who take it. Symptoms that include nausea, chills, anxiety, even delirium. “You taper down very gradually,” says Dr. Maust. Scientists and researchers need to emphasize the risk of these drugs to allow doctors to understand what they are actually handing to their clients. This quiet problem needs to be stopped. Significant declines in benzo use among older people in Ontario, Canada, in Australia and in the Veterans Administration health care system in the United States show that it can be done, with more cautious prescribing and programs to help users become ex-users.
I thought this article was very interesting but at the same time, very straightforward. I didn’t choose this article for a specific reason but I am happy that I did. I found it very intriguing how this large problem within elderly communities is not talked about more. I was able to understand the main idea of the article due to the strengths of the author. Paula Span did a great job of providing the reader with the perfect amount of detail. Because of this, I was able to grasp the perfect idea of this ‘quiet problem.’ There was never a point where I was confused because she told it like a story. Although Paula did things well, I wish she included more quotes from researchers because this would have allowed me to get an idea of what other researchers opinions were on this problem. Overall, I believe the author did a excellent job of addressing the quiet drug problems among elderly.
Kunzang Namgyal
ReplyDeleteMr.Ippolito
AP Biology- EF even
18 March 2018
Span, Paula. “A Quiet Drug Problem Among the Elderly.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 16 Mar. 2018.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/16/health/elderly-drugs-addiction.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fhealth&action=click&contentCollection=health®ion=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront
This week I chose to read Ava’s current event on the article, "“A Quiet Drug Problem Among the Elderly.” Ava did a good job of summarizing the article, that the elderly are using alarming amounts of drugs that have ill effects on their health. Ava also successfully picked effective quotes to insert into her article that left a lasting affect and explained the importance of this research. Ava concisely explained the experiment, in which the rise in the amount of prescriptions for these drugs is documented.
There are two areas in which Ava could improve. Ava should have given the credentials of the scientist that performed the study because without the scientist’s credentials, the reader does not know if this study is credible. I also think that Ava could have included a more compelling reason as to why this article is relevant to a broad variety of readers. She could have included the fact that many people have elderly relatives that could be affected by this issue.
I was completely unaware that these drugs were an issue for the elderly population before reading this article. It was very interesting that this problem has gone unnoticed for so long.
Jack Kochansky
ReplyDeleteAP Biology EF Even
Mr. Ippolito
24 March 2018
“A Quiet Drug Problem Among the Elderly”
By Paula Span
Reviewed by Ava Austi
Span, Paula. “A Quiet Drug Problem Among the Elderly.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 16 Mar. 2018.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/16/health/elderly-drugs-addiction.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fhealth&action=click&contentCollection=health®ion=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront.
For this current events assignment, I read Ava’s review of the New York Times article “A Quiet Drug Problem Among the Elderly” by Paula Span, which was interesting and thorough. First of all, she paid close attention to detail in the review, offering precise statistics and extra information that helps us to learn more key facts. That helps us to be able to better understand the tricky situation that doctors and patients alike are having to navigate. Second of all, Ava includes links to articles for even more resources for curious or confused readers. This is very useful because there were a few drugs and conditions that she mentions that I was less familiar with, and those links helped to answer my questions. Finally, she includes the specific names for many of the drugs causing problems among the elderly, which helps us to recognize that even everyday drugs can be quite dangerous when overused and in certain situations. Overall, these make Ava’s current events review very strong and thorough.
However, there were a couple of places in which she could have improved to make her work even better. For example, while she does introduce one of the researchers referred to in the article, she fails to give any background information on Dr. Maust, who she quotes in the review. It would have been better if she had established the doctor’s credentials at some point so that we as readers could better understand what their expertise is. Ava also could have gone into a little more detail in her critique paragraph. She does mention one place in which she felt that the article could have been improved, but it would have been even better if she had elaborated some more or offered another point. In general, though, Ava’s current events review was very good.
I found this review very interesting because it points out some real-life medical problems that few people think about very often. We tend to believe that our medical drugs, both prescription and over the counter, can only be positive when used as instructed. This article and review showed, however, that among the elderly, they can in fact pose some problems. We rarely think about older people as the ones who have drug problems -- and this is admitted a very different sort of drug problem -- but it deserves more attention. Even if the solutions to this serious medical concern are not immediately found, it is very valuable to continue to look at it and work to prevent this problem from recurring in the future.