Carried out by researchers at University College Cork in Ireland, this study identified five significant ‘prescribing cascades’ – situations where a medication is prescribed to treat the side effects of another drug, potentially putting older adults at risk. Such cascades can occur when side effects are misinterpreted as new medical conditions, leading to unnecessary and potentially harmful additional medications being taken.
Published in The Annals of Family Medicine journal, the study analyzed national prescription data from over half a million Irish adults aged 65 and older between 2017 and 2020. Using a method known as ‘prescription sequence symmetry analysis’, the researchers examined nine known prescribing cascades within a one-year period.
Five cascades showed a clear pattern where one drug likely led to the prescription of another. These included calcium channel blockers leading to the use of diuretics, alpha-1 blockers leading to vestibular sedatives, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) or selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) leading to ‘sleeping pill’ drugs, benzodiazepines leading to antipsychotics, and antipsychotics leading to anti-Parkinsonian drugs.
To learn how a key business strategy of pharmaceutical companies involves knowingly causing harmful side effects and new diseases with drugs, see the ‘Laws of the Pharmaceutical Industry’ page on our website.
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August 8, 2025Study Reveals Five Medication ‘Prescribing Cascades’ That May Put Older Adults at Risk
News
‘Prescribing cascades’ occur when one medication is used to treat or prevent a side effect of another medication. The patient then not only experiences the original side effect but also faces additional risks from the second medication.
[Source: medicalxpress.com]
[Image source: Adobe Stock]
Comment
Carried out by researchers at University College Cork in Ireland, this study identified five significant ‘prescribing cascades’ – situations where a medication is prescribed to treat the side effects of another drug, potentially putting older adults at risk. Such cascades can occur when side effects are misinterpreted as new medical conditions, leading to unnecessary and potentially harmful additional medications being taken.
Published in The Annals of Family Medicine journal, the study analyzed national prescription data from over half a million Irish adults aged 65 and older between 2017 and 2020. Using a method known as ‘prescription sequence symmetry analysis’, the researchers examined nine known prescribing cascades within a one-year period.
Five cascades showed a clear pattern where one drug likely led to the prescription of another. These included calcium channel blockers leading to the use of diuretics, alpha-1 blockers leading to vestibular sedatives, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) or selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) leading to ‘sleeping pill’ drugs, benzodiazepines leading to antipsychotics, and antipsychotics leading to anti-Parkinsonian drugs.
To learn how a key business strategy of pharmaceutical companies involves knowingly causing harmful side effects and new diseases with drugs, see the ‘Laws of the Pharmaceutical Industry’ page on our website.
Dr. Rath Health Foundation
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