Elderly population compliance

The pharmaceutical industries, universities, various institutes etcetera invest hundreds of billions every year for research and development of new drugs or drug candidates. The investment for researching improvement of the actual use of drugs in the society and in individual patients is very limited compared to this. It is important to stress that a new treatment, even if more effective, not automatically improves health, especially not in the elderly population and when the practical use and handling, including compliance, is problematic. Instead of focusing on new... 

Compliance in the elderly in general is similar to that of the general population. If more than six drugs are prescribed long term, or more than three doses per day are required, then compliance will suffer (Gately, 1968 Blackwell, 1979). These... 

As elderly people are perceived to be a frail population, European regulation requires presentation of the research protocol to an ethics committee. Directive 2001/20/EC regulates and harmonizes ethical rules governing clinical trials in Europe. The ethics committee is an independent body made up of healthcare professionals and nonmedical members. Its responsibility is to protect the rights, safety and well-being of human subjects involved in a clinical trial, and to control the protocol, the suitability of investigators and the documents used to inform the subjects. Consequently, it is the responsibility of each investigator to ensure compliance of the sensory studies with the ethics laws of his country. 

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