US Seniors And OTCs For Chronic Pain Relief

Among the USA's senior citizens, 51% who take over-the-counter drugs forchronic pain conditions said they take an OTC pain reliever daily and 17% said they use one "several times a week," according to a new study by the National Council on the Aging. 32% said they used such products "rarely," and 17% that they used them "several times a month," with 15% "less often than that." The study was conducted among 500 seniors aged 60 or more who in the past five years had a pain condition that lasted for six months or longer and who had taken a pain medicine on a regular basis as recommended or prescribed by their physician to manage their pain conditions.

Also noted in the study, which was carried out for the NCOA by Louis Harris & Associates, is that nearly 75% of seniors who take prescription pain relievers for their conditions take OTC analgesics as well. 85% of those who take OTC pain drugs say they are effective.

- The US Consumer Product Safety Commission has asked the US Nonprescription Drug Manufacturers Association to remind its members that the 18-month blanket exemption from compliance with the new senior-adult requirement for child-resistant packaging will expire on January 21, 1998.