Clinical factors affecting potentially inappropriate medications at discharge in older stroke patients

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 161-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eiji Kose ◽  
Toshiyuki Hirai ◽  
Toshiichi Seki
Author(s):  
Ola Albaghdadi ◽  
Salam , Mohammad Hassan Morteza, Firas A Ahjel ◽  
Mohammad Hassan Morteza ◽  
Firas Aziz Rahi

Aims: Elderly in Iraq kept suffering multiple burdens, as they are a truly fragile and vulnerable segment. A major public health issue among elderly is adverse drug reactions. This study is aimed at contributing in overcoming this treatment gap by determining the prevalence of inappropriate medications used by a group of Iraqi elderly outpatients. Methods: A cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study was conducted in a sample of 85 Iraqi elderly aged ≥65 years of either gender. Participants had face-to-face interviews to answer a comprehensive questionnaire. Each drug taken by the patient was evaluated according to Beers criteria. Results: Females constituted 45.9% of the total. The average age was 69.9 years (± 4.6). Nearly 30% of the patients had 3 different diseases, and 17.8% had ≥4 different ones, with cardiovascular diseases were the most prevalent. Polypharmacy was notably identified in 47.1% of the total studied population. Twenty-eight out of 85 patients did not know the actual reason of taking at least one of their medications, and 42% were not taking their drugs as directed. Remarkably, 43.5% of patients were recognized as taking at least one medication to be avoided in elderly people according to the Beers criteria. The most common inappropriate drugs were glyburide, and proton-pump inhibitors. Conclusion: There was an obvious absence of any role of pharmacists in the health care system for our studied population. Health care professionals are encouraged to review the medications prescribed for geriatric patients using updated safety guidelines to prevent the risks associated with potentially inappropriate medications.


Author(s):  
Justyna Jończyk ◽  
Jerzy Jankau

AbstractThe presence of postoperative complications may have a significant impact on the outcome of the breast reconstruction. The aim of this study was to investigate early postoperative complications and the risk factors for their occurrence. A prospective analysis was carried out to evaluate surgical outcomes after breast reconstructive surgeries performed over a 2-year period. Procedures included expander/implant (TE/IMP), pedicle transverse rectus abdominis musculocutaneous (pTRAM), and latissimus dorsi (LD) techniques. All adverse events which occurred within 6 weeks of surgery were ranked according to severity based on the contracted Accordion grading system. Outcomes were assessed for their association with surgical, demographic, and clinical variables. Sixty-one consecutive breast reconstruction procedures were analyzed. The overall complication rate was 60.7% (n = 37), and 8 patients (13.1%) required reoperation. The lowest complication rate was observed in implant-based reconstructions (TE/IMP, 18.8%; pTRAM, 72.7%; LD, 78.3%; p = 0.008). Mild complications occurred significantly more often after LD reconstructions (LD, 60.9%; pTRAM, 22.7%; TE/IMP, 12.5%; p = 0.031), while severe complications were significantly more frequent after the pTRAM procedures (pTRAM, 27.3%; TE/IMP, 6.2%; LD, 8.7%; p = 0.047). Severe complications were associated with higher rehospitalization rate (p = 0.010) and longer hospital stay. Study revealed a significant impact of the operative method on the incidence and severity of early complications after breast reconstruction procedures with little effect from other demographic and clinical factors.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
pp. 215013272110350
Author(s):  
Pasitpon Vatcharavongvan ◽  
Viwat Puttawanchai

Background Most older adults with comorbidities in primary care clinics use multiple medications and are at risk of potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs) prescription. Objective This study examined the prevalence of polypharmacy and PIMs using Thai criteria for PIMs. Methods This study was a retrospective cross-sectional study. Data were collected from electronic medical records in a primary care clinic in 2018. Samples were patients aged ≥65 years old with at least 1 prescription. Variables included age, gender, comorbidities, and medications. The list of risk drugs for Thai elderly version 2 was the criteria for PIMs. The prevalence of polypharmacy and PIMs were calculated, and multiple logistic regression was conducted to examine associations between variables and PIMs. Results Of 2806 patients, 27.5% and 43.7% used ≥5 medications and PIMs, respectively. Of 10 290 prescriptions, 47% had at least 1 PIM. The top 3 PIMs were anticholinergics, proton-pump inhibitors, and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). Polypharmacy and dyspepsia were associated with PIM prescriptions (adjusted odds ratio 2.48 [95% confident interval or 95% CI 2.07-2.96] and 3.88 [95% CI 2.65-5.68], respectively). Conclusion Prescriptions with PIMs were high in the primary care clinic. Describing unnecessary medications is crucial to prevent negative health outcomes from PIMs. Computer-based clinical decision support, pharmacy-led interventions, and patient-specific drug recommendations are promising interventions to reduce PIMs in a primary care setting.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Migliazza ◽  
Caroline Bähler ◽  
Daniel Liedtke ◽  
Andri Signorell ◽  
Stefan Boes ◽  
...  

Abstract Background A hospitalization phase represents a challenge to medication safety especially for multimorbid patients as acute medical needs might interact with pre-existing medications or evoke adverse drug effects. This project aimed to examine the prevalence and risk factors of potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs) and medication combinations (PIMCs) in the context of hospitalizations. Methods Analyses are based on claims data of patients (≥65 years) with basic mandatory health insurance at the Helsana Group, and on data from the Hirslanden Swiss Hospital Group. We assessed PIMs and PIMCs of patients who were hospitalized in 2013 at three different time points (quarter prior, during, after hospitalization). PIMs were identified using the PRISCUS list, whereas PIMCs were derived from compendium.ch. Zero-inflated Poisson regression models were applied to determine risk factors of PIMs and PIMCs. Results Throughout the observation period, more than 80% of patients had at least one PIM, ranging from 49.7% in the pre-hospitalization, 53.6% in the hospitalization to 48.2% in the post-hospitalization period. PIMCs were found in 46.6% of patients prior to hospitalization, in 21.3% during hospitalization, and in 25.0% of patients after discharge. Additional medication prescriptions compared to the preceding period and increasing age were the main risk factors, whereas managed care was associated with a decrease in PIMs and PIMCs. Conclusion We conclude that a patient’s hospitalization offers the possibility to increase medication safety. Nevertheless, the prevalence of PIMs and PIMCs is relatively high in the study population. Therefore, our results indicate a need for interventions to increase medication safety in the Swiss healthcare setting.


Author(s):  
Yuya Uragami ◽  
Kazuhiro Takikawa ◽  
Hajime Kareki ◽  
Koji Kimura ◽  
Kazuyuki Yamamoto ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Frailty is an urgent concern among an aging population worldwide. However, the relationship between frailty and number and types of medications has not been studied in detail among early-stage older patients, and it is unclear what prescriptions may have a role in preventing frailty. This study aimed to clarify the effects of number of medications and use of potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs) on frailty among early-stage older outpatients in Japan. Methods A cross-sectional study was undertaken. Frailty scores and medications of outpatients aged 65–74 years who regularly visited community pharmacies were investigated. Frailty scores were classified as 0 (non-frailty), 1–2 (pre-frailty), and ≥ 3 (frailty). The association between frailty and number of medications was analyzed by age and compared between PIM use and non-use groups. The proportion of patients who used PIMs was also analyzed by frailty score. Results Of 923 older outpatients, 49 (5.3%) and 318 (34.5%) patients had frailty and pre-frailty scores, respectively. The numbers of medications among patients with pre-frailty and frailty were significantly higher than among those with non-frailty (p <  0.001 for both). A similar increase was shown for PIM use groups aged 69–71 and 72–74 years, but not for the PIM use group aged 65–68 years and all groups without PIM use. An increasing linear trend was observed for the relationship between the proportion of patients who used any PIM, as well as some subcategories of PIMs (such as NSAIDs, benzodiazepines, loop diuretics and antithrombotic drugs) and frailty score. Conclusions Unnecessary medication use among early-stage older outpatients, especially patients aged ≥69 years who use PIMs and many medications, seems to be associated with frailty, but further research is needed to confirm these findings.


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