Pharmacotherapy of late life mood disorders.

The pharmacotherapy of elderly patients with affective illnesses presents clinicians with a number of challenges. Changes associated with normal aging, as well as concomitant medical illnesses and their treatment, can affect the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of psychotropic drugs. Furthermore, the relative paucity of controlled trials with elderly patients necessitates a reliance on studies done on younger populations, which may be inappropriate. This review attempts to highlight how knowledge of the effects of aging on pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics can help clinicians optimize therapy for their older patients with affective disorders.