GO-PIMs scale developed to help prevent high-risk drug interactions in older adult cancer patients

Harvard-led research, recently published in the Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network has found that older adult blood cancer patients, taking multiple medications, often experienced side effects that outweighed the benefits of their medication. The team developed the Geriatric Oncology-Potentially Inappropriate Medications (GO-PIMs) scale, to predict the adverse events a medication may cause. Moving forward, researchers believe this scale could aid targeted de-prescribing of inappropriate medications to older blood cancer patients. Polypharmacy refers to the circumstance in which people take multiple medications (≥5) at the same time. As our population ages, and co-morbidities accumulate, the number of patients affected...