The class effect: is it relevant to geriatrics?

The formulary of medications available today provides a remarkable range of choices to all prescribers and their patients. In some ways, choices have become easier to make, whereas in other ways, choosing has become a nightmare of dueling considerations. One approach to simplification has relied on class effect. The hypothesis is that drugs within a pharmacological class all work similarly, have similar advantages and disadvantages, and are-to a large extent-interchangeable. If one develops familiarity with one or two agents in a class, that is all one needs to know, because there is little difference between agents within a drug class. The question is whether this approach based on class effect is relevant to geriatrics.