More older people 'should be involved in medical testing'
Monday 1st February 2010
There should be a greater representation of older people in clinical trials, it has been suggested.
According to a European Union project entitled Predict - which started in February 2008 and is set to last for a total of 27 months - too few such people currently take part in research.
Despite the fact that the elderly are the most likely to take medication, they are the least likely to be the subjects of tests.
The results of research conducted on younger people cannot always be extrapolated to older demographics, it claimed.
Dr Gary Mills, director of the Medical Economics and Research Centre, Sheffield and one of the co-ordinators of the project, stated: "If treatments are not evaluated for elderly people it is difficult for doctors to balance the risks and benefits," the BBC reports.
Meanwhile, spokesman for the British Geriatrics Society Professor David Oliver added that the underrepresentation of elderly people in clinical trials is a "serious problem".
Written by Mathew Horton
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