The over-prescribing of medicines in Europe is becoming “chronic,” especially among elderly patients, a leading health policy expert has claimed. A study by Salzburg Medical University has found that prescriptions issued to patients with an average age of 82 were unnecessary in 36% of cases, while for 30% the drugs they were being given were inappropriate, according to Guenther Leiner, president of leading health policy conference the European Health Forum Gastein (EHFG).
