Conceptualizing Drug Therapies as Risk Factors for Chronic Disease

Abstract

Although there are many examples of drug therapies leading to chronic disease, they are often not conceptualized as part of the broader framework of chronic disease risk factors. We argue that in order for this to change, drug therapies need to be recognized as potentially modifiable risk factors in conceptual models of chronic disease development. We propose a model to consider drug therapies as a set of potentially modifiable risk factors for chronic diseases. This model has particular relevance to older adults since old age is a risk factor for chronic disease and since older adults have high rates of drug therapy use.