Ageing Australians accidentally overdosing on common drug
Since 2000, there have been 22 deaths resulting from overdoses of a drug commonly used to treat rheumatoid arthritis (RI), psoriasis and inflammatory bowel disease (IBS) – all of which could have been avoided.
Methotrexate, which is prescribed in 50-tablet lots that should last a patient one year, is the culprit responsible for these avoidable deaths.
According Dr Rose Cairns, lead researcher and senior poisons specialist at the New South Wales Poisons Information Centre (NSW PIC), "It's so easy to take too much. Patients confuse their weekly dose of methotrexate with their daily medications, and it only take three days for the effect to be lethal."
A study conducted by NSW PIC has found that methotrexate is often mistaken for folic acid tablets, which are often prescribed in conjunction with methotrexate or prednisone. Patients have accidentally overdosed thinking that their RI meds were folic acid tablets. NSW PIC is worried that the number of overdoses will rise along with our ageing population. The age of patients who have overdoses are between 66 to 87 and have generally been attributed to confusion, memory problems, age-related cognitive decline and poor eyesight.
Researchers have recommended changing the way the drug is packaged, from one year’s supply to enough for one month at a time. They’ve also suggested packaging the drug with folic acid similarly to how the oral contraceptive pill is packaged.
"This would make it nearly impossible to make these kinds of errors," said Dr Cairns.
Read more at The Age
The overdoses have generally been attributed to "confusion, memory problems, age-related cognitive decline and poor eyesight". What about euthanasia?