Cancer Diary: The Quiet Risk in the Pillbox
This week, a study out of the VA system quietly rewrote the rules on medication safety for older adults with cancer. Among 380,000 patients, nearly 4 in 10 were prescribed drugs now flagged as potentially inappropriate—not because they’re inherently harmful, but because they quietly erode resilience. SSRIs, anticholinergics, and certain sedatives top the list. The tool behind this revelation is called GO-PIMs —Geriatric Oncology Potentially Inappropriate Medications. It doesn’t shame or scold. It simply asks: Does this drug help or hinder the body’s ability to withstand cancer and its treatment? Each additional risky medication increased frailty odds by 66%. That’s not a typo. Frailty isn’t just a clinical label. It’s the difference between walking to the mailbox or needing a ramp. Between tolerating chemo or being hospitalized for side effects. Between autonomy and dependence. For caregivers, this means vigilance. For clinicians, it means recalibration. For survivors, it mea...