Precise medical decision making in geriatric anti-depressant therapy

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Human aging is characterized by increasing vulnerability not only to diseases, but also to the treatments applied to that diseases. Geriatric depression is a frequent mental disorder often requiring pharmacological treatment, which commonly is added to other medications taken to treat chronic or acute co-morbidities. The challenges of appropriate treatment of elderly are increasingly recognized as an urgent health problem.

Areas covered: The challenges of appropriate geriatric anti-depressant prescription, and the role of novel tools developed by Precision Medicine. The data were obtained searching in MEDLINE: pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, pharmacogenetics, antidepressants, drug-drug interactions and elderly, in the period 1994–2016.

Expert commentary: The Precision Medicine approach take advantage by novel decision-supporting tools, as pharmacogenomic testing, drug-drug interactions evaluation and therapeutic drug monitoring, allowing to improve informed-decision making in prescription of antidepressants.

KEYWORDS:

• Geriatric depression
• precision medicine
• pharmacogenomics
• drug-drug interactions
• therapeutic drug monitoring

Declaration of interest

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.