Sarah has long advocated for ‘age-friendly’ clinical trials that make it easier for frail, older people to be included. While the average older person takes up to eight prescription
medications, globally, they are often underrepresented in clinical trials.
“We have a situation where we test drugs in healthy, older people or in middle aged people, and then use them in frail, older people with a lot of different complex problems. We wind up with all sorts of interactions and unexpected effects.” “I think it’s really important that if we’re going to do clinical trials, we need to make sure that they’re inclusive of the people who are going to actually wind up using the drugs in clinical practice,” she says. Her advocacy in this space extends beyond the NSLHD. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration recently designed a roadmap for drug evaluation for older adults, and Sarah was the only Australian on the project, representing the Geriatric Committee of International Union of Basic and Clinical Pharmacologists, which she chairs. Sarah’s work through development and implementation of the DBI and her advocacy for age-friendly trials has significantly improved the quality of life for older adults. “We need to ensure our ageing population receives the best possible evidence-based care,” she says.
This means they have more than one medical problem and what is known as a geriatric syndrome, which include falls, delirium or polypharmacy.
These days, ‘geriatric’ describes patients over 65 who have complex medical problems.
9
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online