Background/Objectives: Elderly patients are experiencing physiological, physical and psychological change. With regard to the pharmacokinetics aspect, the bioavailability of drugs which are unstable in the stomach, decreases while the drug absorption in the small intestine increases. Moreover, the body distribution ratio and protein binding are also affected. Reduced first-pass effect influences on drug metabolism and glomerular filtration rate (GFR), renal tubule secretion ratio decrease. In the pharmacodynamical aspect, the changes in the number of receptors, their affinity, and the homeostasis of the body result in alteration of drug reaction. The majority of the elderly patients are suffering from multiple chronic disorders and necessarily polypharmacy, which can result in various adverse drug reactions in those patients. Other than the decline in an elderly patient’s ability to see, hear, taste and remembrance with the coming of age, their adherence also decreases. This can lead to a potential exposure to Potentially Inappropriate Medication (PIM), which consequently could lead to high economic cost. Methods: This investigation involved both the Korean and English databases. Medline, International Pharmaceutical Abstracts, and Embase were used as English databases whereas RISS and NDSL were used as Korean databases. The following keywords were searched on both databases: “‘elderly’ OR ‘medication education for the elderly’ OR ‘pharmacodynamics in the elderly’”. Articles were then retrieved from the Google database and Korea Knowledge Resource Integrated Database. Results: Clinical outcomes of pharmaceutical care included in the reduction of drug-related morbidity (2.1%), hospitalization related drugs ratio (6.0%), ratio of hospital visitation (4.5%). It also included an increase in compliance (2.1%), an inappropriate medication discontinuation (28.9%), and subsequent and mortality reduction. Conclusion: Pharmacists should give customized pharmaceutical care to elderly patients based on their characteristics. These efforts will help to ensure high quality care for the elderly patients by preventing disorders related drugs and improving their overall health and reducing health cost.

Keywords: Elderly, Medication education, Pharmaceutical care, Polypharmacy, Pharmacodynamics