| Article Access Statistics | | | Viewed | 3982 | | | Printed | 102 | | | Emailed | 0 | | | PDF Downloaded | 19 | | | Comments | [Add] | | | Cited by others | 2 | | |
|
Click on image for details.
|
|
 |
| LETTER |
|
|
|
| Year : 2017 | Volume
: 63
| Issue : 2 | Page : 138-139 |
“Drug use without indication” in elderly hospitalized patients
N Haider1, F Mazhar1, M Ahmed2
1 Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Prince Sultan Military College of Health Sciences, King Fahd Military Medical Complex, Dhahran, Saudia Arabia
2 Department of Pharmaceutical Service, Almana General Hospital, Dammam, Saudia Arabia
| Date of Web Publication | 10-Apr-2017 |
Correspondence Address:
N Haider
Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Prince Sultan Military College of Health Sciences, King Fahd Military Medical Complex, Dhahran
Saudia Arabia
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/jpgm.JPGM_675_16
How to cite this article:
Haider N, Mazhar F, Ahmed M. “Drug use without indication” in elderly hospitalized patients. J Postgrad Med 2017;63:138-9 |
A major challenge in the management of hospitalized elderly patients is a critical examination of a patient's medicines with the objective of optimization of drug therapy, minimizing the number of drug-related problems, and reducing waste. These patients with complex care needs have multiple medical conditions, often receive a number of important drugs, and are at increased risk of adverse effects of drugs. Evidence suggests that adverse drug events due to inappropriate prescribing in this population are quite prevalent [1],[2] and highly preventable. The present study aimed to optimize drug therapy in hospitalized elderly patients.
The present study was carried out in a university teaching general hospital in Eastern province of Saudi Arabia. A team comprising two clinical pharmacists and two geriatricians critically reviewed medications prescribed in fifty elderly patients who were admitted to a medical care unit. Following information was collected: age, weight, creatinine clearance and diagnosis of each patient. For each drug, the following information was collected: trade name, active ingredient(s), dose, frequency, route of administration, and duration of treatment as well as drug allergies. After reviewing medical records, the team critically evaluated each prescribed drug against the evidence-based guidelines for their potential inappropriateness in geriatrics. In case where pharmacist and geriatric specialist mutually agreed that alteration in the medication prescribed is deemed necessary, the prescribing physician was then contacted for possible modification in drug therapy.
The mean age of patients was 83 ± 6 years (SD; 28 male and 22 female). A total 332 of drugs were prescribed with an average 6.6 drugs per patient. In 120/332 (36%) drugs, a discontinuation was recommended (2.1 drugs on average per patient) [Table 1]. Of these 120 drugs, 86 (72%) drugs were used without indication, or recommended duration of treatment had been exceeded. Moreover, out of these 120 drugs, 34 (28%) were found to be potentially inappropriate medications in geriatrics according to Beers and STOPP criteria. | Table 1: Number of drugs categorized by the reason of inappropriate prescribing and therapeutic classes in which pharmacist-geriatric team suggested discontinuation of drug
Click here to view |
Interventions were made to discontinue a drug by the clinical pharmacists-geriatrician team after consultation with the prescribing physicians. The rate of acceptance for alteration in those drugs which were prescribed without a valid indication was 100% (86/86 drugs were stopped by the prescribing physician). Among 34 drugs which were found potentially inappropriate for geriatrics, 11 drugs (32%) were discontinued.
Our study demonstrates that the collaboration between clinician pharmacist-geriatrician and physician can reduce inappropriate drug use. In our study, we found that prescribing of potentially inappropriate medications in elderly patients was not frequent. Current literature mainly relates to optimization of drug therapy in geriatric patients who have been prescribed potentially inappropriate medications.[3],[4] Many published pharmacoepidemiological studies reported higher prevalence of potentially inappropriate medication based on Beers, STOPP/START, or other modified criteria. However, in our study, medication-related problems due to “drug use without indication” were more frequent than problems due to prescribing of drugs which are potentially inappropriate for elderly patients.
Our study highlights and confirms the findings of previous studies [5] that for the optimal drug therapy in elderly patients it is desirable to enhance and systematize the collaboration between a clinical pharmacist-geriatrician team and the treating physicians in medical units.
Financial support and sponsorship
Nil.
Conflicts of interest
There are no conflicts of interest.
| :: References | |  |
| 1. | van der Stelt CA, Vermeulen Windsant-van den Tweel AM, Egberts AC, van den Bemt PM, Leendertse AJ, Hermens WA, et al. The association between potentially inappropriate prescribing and medication-related hospital admissions in older patients: A nested case control study. Drug Saf 2016;39:79-87.  |
| 2. | Hamilton HJ, Gallagher PF, O'Mahony D. Inappropriate prescribing and adverse drug events in older people. BMC Geriatr 2009;9:5. |
| 3. | Rothberg MB, Pekow PS, Liu F, Korc-Grodzicki B, Brennan MJ, Bellantonio S, et al. Potentially inappropriate medication use in hospitalized elders. J Hosp Med 2008;3:91-102. |
| 4. | Onder G, Landi F, Liperoti R, Fialova D, Gambassi G, Bernabei R. Impact of inappropriate drug use among hospitalized older adults. Eur J Clin Pharmacol 2005;61:453-9. |
| 5. | Moss JM, Bryan WE 3 rd, Wilkerson LM, Jackson GL, Owenby RK, Van Houtven C, et al. Impact of clinical pharmacy specialists on the design and implementation of a quality improvement initiative to decrease inappropriate medications in a veterans affairs emergency department. J Manag Care Spec Pharm 2016;22:74-80. |
[Table 1]
| This article has been cited by | | 1 |
Effect of integrated medicines management on the quality of drug treatment in hospitalised multimorbid patients — a secondary endpoint analysis of a randomised controlled trial |
|
| Malin Olsen Syversen, Sarah Farhin Shah, Liv Mathiesen, Morten Mowé, Marianne Lea | | International Journal of Pharmacy Practice. 2023; | | [Pubmed] | [DOI] | | | 2 |
Clinical pharmacist evaluation of medication inappropriateness in a geriatric hospital |
|
| S. Domiati, R. Poushuju | | Annales Pharmaceutiques Françaises. 2022; | | [Pubmed] | [DOI] | |
|
|
|
|
