Introduction:

individual aging could be considered relative if it is known that in Imperial Rome young people of 20 years of age were already old and life expectancy did not exceed 27 years due to infectious diseases, the infant mortality rate was very high and the birth rate and mortality rate were very high. Perhaps half of the individuals died before the age of five and many who reached the age of 10 died while still young.

Objective:

to summarize the literature on the subject.

Method:

a review of literature related to aging, published in Spanish and English, was carried out. The information was searched using the Google Scholar search engine.

Conclusions:

the application of STOPP/START criteria and rationalization of prescribing in elderly patients eliminates unnecessary prescriptions and reduces the average number of drugs administered to each patient and their prescription lines. In addition to improve care indicators (reduction of polypharmacy) and management indicators, pharmaceutical and economic savings are achieved and, above all, patient comfort is maintained.

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