The impact of polypharmacy on the health of Canadian seniors.

Background: Prescription medication use increases with age. Seniors face an increased risk of adverse drug reactions from medications, partly because the kidneys and liver can lose functional ability with increasing age, resulting in the need for changes in dosage.

Objective: To use population survey data to understand the extent and impact of multiple medication use and adverse drug events among Canadian seniors.

Chronic conditions more than age drive health system use in Canadian seniors.

Which has more impact on health status and the use of healthcare services among seniors: age or the number of chronic conditions? To answer this question, we used responses from the 2008 Canadian Survey of Experiences with Primary Health Care to assess the effect of these two factors on seniors' self-perceived health status, prescription medication use and healthcare service use. We discovered that seniors with at least three chronic conditions were more likely to report poor health, take more prescription medications and use more healthcare services than seniors with two or fewer chronic conditions. The number of chronic conditions is better than age as a predictor of self-reported health status, prescription medication use and healthcare service use by seniors.

Ejections of young children in motor vehicle crashes.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to report the incidence of ejection from the vehicle among children involved in motor vehicle crashes, and to describe a novel mode of ejection from child safety seats.

Methods: The U.S.