Use of Digitalis in Older Adults: A Recent Update
Plants of the genus Digitalis are the source of digoxin. Historical evidence of pharmacological use of purple foxglove (Digitalis purpurea) is documented as early as 1250, when it was used as a recipe for headache. Its topical form was used in 1466 for wound healing. In 1785, Dr. William Withering, an English physician and botanist, analyzed approximately 200 cases, mostly with “dropsy” in his An Account of the Foxglove and Some of its Medical Uses: With Practical Remarks on Dropsy and Other Diseases. Dr. Withering considered digitalis to be a diuretic.
Digoxin is the most freque...
