TY - JOUR
AU - M. Izquierdo
AU - R. Ramírez-Vélez
AU - M. A. Fiatarone Singh
A1 - 
AB - Integrating exercise prescriptions with medication management represents a novel approach for enhancing health and function, optimising medication effectiveness, and reducing adverse drug reactions and polypharmacy in older adults (ie, those aged ≥60 years). This Personal View highlights the need for a comprehensive assessment of lifestyle, diagnoses, geriatric syndromes, and medications with an emphasis on fully incorporating exercise treatment into geriatric care. Exercise is an alternative to less effective or unsafe medications for many conditions, including depression, anxiety, insomnia, osteoarthritis, and dementia. Exercise is an important adjunct to pharmacotherapy for many common chronic conditions such as coronary artery disease, heart failure, diabetes, osteoporosis, cancer, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Adding exercise to drug management can mitigate adverse drug reactions, enhance medication compliance, and reduce the adverse effects of sedentary behaviour and ageing processes on chronic disease expression. Targeted exercise programmes have also been shown to ameliorate drug-induced side-effects, including anorexia, falls, sarcopenia, osteoporosis, and orthostatic hypotension, and to overcome constraints such as reduced aerobic fitness, balance impairment, and muscle atrophy due to some medications. Health-care professionals require additional training and support to ensure that exercise assumes a key, central role in older adults with multimorbidity and polypharmacy, as supported by the current literature. This Personal View describes practical approaches to incorporating exercise into clinical practice as a step towards an integrated geriatric care model, with the ultimate aim of increasing health span and minimising disability.
AD - Navarrabiomed, Hospital Universitario de Navarra (HUN), Universidad Pública de Navarra (UPNA), Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Navarra (IdiSNA), Pamplona, Spain; CIBER of Frailty and Healthy Aging (CIBERFES), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain. Electronic address: mikel.izquierdo@unavarra.es.; Navarrabiomed, Hospital Universitario de Navarra (HUN), Universidad Pública de Navarra (UPNA), Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria de Navarra (IdiSNA), Pamplona, Spain; CIBER of Frailty and Healthy Aging (CIBERFES), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain.; Faculty of Medicine and Health, School of Health Sciences and Sydney Medical School, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia; Hinda and Arthur Marcus Institute for Aging Research, Hebrew SeniorLife, Roslindale, MA, USA.
AN - 41015054
BT - Lancet Healthy Longev
C5 - Opioids & Substance Use
CP - 9
DA - Sep
DO - 10.1016/j.lanhl.2025.100763
DP - NLM
ET - 20250925
IS - 9
JF - Lancet Healthy Longev
LA - eng
N2 - Integrating exercise prescriptions with medication management represents a novel approach for enhancing health and function, optimising medication effectiveness, and reducing adverse drug reactions and polypharmacy in older adults (ie, those aged ≥60 years). This Personal View highlights the need for a comprehensive assessment of lifestyle, diagnoses, geriatric syndromes, and medications with an emphasis on fully incorporating exercise treatment into geriatric care. Exercise is an alternative to less effective or unsafe medications for many conditions, including depression, anxiety, insomnia, osteoarthritis, and dementia. Exercise is an important adjunct to pharmacotherapy for many common chronic conditions such as coronary artery disease, heart failure, diabetes, osteoporosis, cancer, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Adding exercise to drug management can mitigate adverse drug reactions, enhance medication compliance, and reduce the adverse effects of sedentary behaviour and ageing processes on chronic disease expression. Targeted exercise programmes have also been shown to ameliorate drug-induced side-effects, including anorexia, falls, sarcopenia, osteoporosis, and orthostatic hypotension, and to overcome constraints such as reduced aerobic fitness, balance impairment, and muscle atrophy due to some medications. Health-care professionals require additional training and support to ensure that exercise assumes a key, central role in older adults with multimorbidity and polypharmacy, as supported by the current literature. This Personal View describes practical approaches to incorporating exercise into clinical practice as a step towards an integrated geriatric care model, with the ultimate aim of increasing health span and minimising disability.
PY - 2025
SN - 2666-7568
SP - 100763
ST - Integrating exercise and medication management in geriatric care: a holistic strategy to enhance health outcomes and reduce polypharmacy
T1 - Integrating exercise and medication management in geriatric care: a holistic strategy to enhance health outcomes and reduce polypharmacy
T2 - Lancet Healthy Longev
TI - Integrating exercise and medication management in geriatric care: a holistic strategy to enhance health outcomes and reduce polypharmacy
U1 - Opioids & Substance Use
U3 - 10.1016/j.lanhl.2025.100763
VL - 6
VO - 2666-7568
Y1 - 2025
ER -