scholarly journals Safety assessment of essential medicines for elderly people: a bibliographic survey

2014 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 269-284 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabiana Rossi Varallo ◽  
Fernanda Mariana de Oliveira ◽  
Patrícia de Carvalho Mastroianni

Certain medicines are considered potentially inappropriate (PIM) for elderly people as they increase the risk of adverse drug events (ADE) and because safer alternative therapies are available on the market. In this context, in order to identify the instruments that assess the quality of medical prescriptions for elderly and to determine which drugs are considered PIM, a bibliographic survey was conducted in PUBMED, LILACS and PAHO databases, in February and March/2010. The search strategy included the use of health descriptors and a manual search in the references cited by selected papers. During the period of data collection, 15 instruments were identified. In 2012, with the publication of the update of Beers criteria, this instrument was included in the study. We identified 163 PIM of 25 therapeutic classes, of which 125 (76.7%) are marketed in Brazil. Of these, 31 (24.8%) are essential medicines (RENAME 2012), of which 13 have safer therapeutic equivalents and 19 (15.2%) are over-the-counter drugs. Data suggest the need for inclusion of safer alternatives for the elderly in the national list of essential medicines and the pharmaceutical care for early detection of ADE in this age group, in order to contribute to the safe use of medicines.

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (35) ◽  
pp. 384-391
Author(s):  
Orianny Nágela Batista Santos ◽  
Bruna Yhang da Costa Silva ◽  
Thais Ariele Lima Chaves ◽  
Ozianne Kelly Vidal Oliveira ◽  
Jane Karine da Silva ◽  
...  

Introduction: The loss of muscle mass is an expected consequence of aging, but excess adiposity has also been increasing in this age group. Both in isolation compromise health and quality of life, but a greater impact happens when they associate. Objective: To verify the prevalence of risk for sarcopenia and sarcopenic obesity among elderly in the municipality of Morada Nova-CE. Methods: Quantitative, transversal, descriptive and analytical study. Simple Questionnaire to Rapidly Diagnosed Sarcopenia (SARC-F) was applied. After, weight, height, calf circumference (CP) and triceps skinfolds (DCT), bicipital, subscapular and supra iliac were collected for diagnoses of nutritional status, sarcopenia and sarcopenic obesity. In descriptive statistics, mean and standard deviation were calculated. In inferential statistics, Pearson’s correlation tests, ANOVA and chisquare were applied. Results: A total of 121 elderly people aged 60 or over and of both sexes participated in the study. The majority of the elderly people (72%, n = 87) were female, with a mean age of 68.8 ± 6.18 years, ranging from 60 to 86 years. The main findings were: predominance of BMI eutrophy, obesity due to DCT adequacy and percentage of fat (% GC), absence of muscle mass depletion, sarcopenia and sarcopenic obesity. Conclusions: Most elderly people did not have sarcopenia or sarcopenic obesity. No association was found between these two diagnoses, nor between the results of SARC-F and CP. Women were more likely to have sarcopenia than men. We suggest studies that allow the establishment of consensus bridges for the diagnosis of sarcopenia and sarcopenic obesity, as well as studies involving the use of SARC-F for its diffusion and evaluation of its sensitivity for the diagnosis of sarcopenia.


2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 139 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zahra Pishkar Mofrad ◽  
Mozhgan Jahantigh ◽  
Azizollah Arbabisarjou

<p><strong>INTRODUCTION &amp; AIM: </strong>Aging is considered as the phenomenon of the day in the health arena of the world and Iran. It is anticipated that there will be an explosion of aging population in Iran in about 2031 and 20-25% of the population will be aged over 60 years. With aging, chronic diseases also increase and diminish the functional ability of older people. On the other hand, increased healthcare costs should be also added to this issue. Health promotion is a concept of process that continues throughout life. As much as health promotion is important in children and adults, it is equally important in older people. In fact, the elderlies, as a group, also acquire many benefits from health promotion behaviors. Due to the increasing elderly population, geriatric health promotion and enhancing the health level of older people is proposed as a health priority that should be properly planned. Hence, the present study has been conducted in this regard and aims to identify behaviors of health promotion and chronic diseases of aging in the elderly people of Iranshahr-Iran.</p><p><strong>MATERIALS &amp; METHODS: </strong>The present research is a cross-sectional descriptive study whose population consists of 425 elderly people aged 60 years and over, who lived in the city of Iranshahr*, IR Iran. The random cluster sampling method has been used to select the research samples. The required information was collected using a questionnaire which was distributed among the older people through visiting their homes; then, the collected data was statistically analyzed using the statistical software of SPSS version 13.</p><p><strong>FINDINGS: </strong>the research findings show that the mean age of older people is  and the highest frequency belongs to the age group of 60 years and the maximum age is 92 years. 69.5% of the older people were in the age group of the young elderly (60-69 years) and 44% of them lived with their married children; also 55.8%, 81.9%, 70.5%, and 74.4% of them were respectively female, illiterate, married, and unemployed. The mean score of geriatric health promotion behaviors was in the range of 0-11 and 54.9% of them got the score of the inappropriate health promotion behavior. The most frequent chronic diseases of older people were respectively joint problems (78.9%), sensory problems (64.1%), and hypertension (56.6%). No significant relationship was observed between the score of health promotion behaviors and “the gender, lifestyle and marital status of the older people”, but there was statistically a significant relationship between the score of health promotion behaviors and “the age, education, and job of the older people”.</p><p><strong>CONCLUSION: </strong>Providing training programs for health promotion behaviors in elderly people can improve these behaviors and enhance their health and quality of life and reduce the incidence of chronic diseases in them. The goal of health promotion behaviors is to maintain performance, independence and quality of life; and many studies have demonstrated that the elderly people who aged 60 years and over benefit from health promotion behaviors more than middle-aged people.</p>


Author(s):  
Javier Benítez ◽  
Nieves Perejón ◽  
Marcelino Arriaza ◽  
Pilar Bellanco

Loneliness has always been associated and reported as a risk factor of malnutrition in the elderly. People over 80 who live alone have deserved this study to detect their situation and potential for action to improve their quality of life. Objectives: To determinate the nutritional status of people over 80 living alone in the area of “La Laguna”, Cádiz. Material and method: In PIAMLA`80 program analyse those parameters and their possible correlations in a group of 342 elderly living alone over 80 years old. Different parameters were measured: Integral Geriatric Evaluation, Barthel, Lawton-Brody, Lobo, Gijon, specific analytical blood chemistry and MNA. Results: In a population of 984 people, were selected 342 initially, but finally the group decreases to 247 people. The mean Barthel was 80.42 points, 5.76 Lawton and Gijon from 11.3 Lobo 26.48. The MNA for the whole population was 24.25/30 detecting only a risk age group in women of 85-95. Correlation between nutrition and the biochemical test values showed positive for haemoglobin (0.19), total protein (0.26), Fe (0.32) and albumin (0.46). Conclusions: In our research we have not detected malnutrition in any age group or gender. The use of nutrition test MNA and its MINI version must be generalized as an accurate, clear, quick and easy tool to use.


2010 ◽  
Vol 46 (4) ◽  
pp. 617-632 ◽  
Author(s):  
André de Oliveira Baldoni ◽  
Farah Maria Drumond Chequer ◽  
Elisa Raquel Anastácio Ferraz ◽  
Danielle Palma de Oliveira ◽  
Leonardo Régis Leira Pereira ◽  
...  

In recent decades, the world has undergone a demographic transformation with a rapid growth of the elderly population, resulting in an increased demand for funds to maintain their health and drug consumption. Pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic changes occurring in the elderly can interfere directly in the adverse effects of drugs and increase the risk of intoxication. In addition, there are external factors interfering with the pharmacotherapy of the elderly, such as inappropriate use and the lack of access to information. Many therapeutic classes of drugs should be used with caution or avoided in the elderly population, such as anti-inflammatory and some anti-hypertensive drugs, diuretics and digitalis. If not managed carefully, these medicines can affect the safety and quality of life in the elderly. Thus, the aim of this review was to identify drugs that should be used with caution in elderly patients in order to avoid intoxication and/or adverse drug events.


2021 ◽  
pp. 270-278
Author(s):  
Tatyana Borisovna Berestok

This article deals with the issue of self-preservation of elderly people when learning to work on a computer from the point of view of information and psychological security. The necessity of solving new socio-psychological problems is indicated: to develop the ability to give a correct assessment of a specific information threat, to prevent the negative impact of the information environment, to resist negative factors, and to contribute to improving the quality of life. The purpose of counseling elderly people is to develop their ability to understand the problem of the negative impact of the information environment on psychological and physiological health, to be able to apply methods to ensure information and psychological security. Consulting and educational work with the elderly and employees of social institutions engaged in professional activities directly related to the above category should be aimed at preventing cases of fraudulent activities. Consulting work with them should not only meet the general principles of building psychological contact, but also cause an understanding of the importance of compliance with security in the digital sphere. Elderly people develop the ability to assess correctly a specific information threat and prevent the negative impact of the information environment by providing adequate resistance to negative factors and contributing to improving their quality of life. It is increasingly difficult for older people to navigate threats, unmotivated anxiety increases, depressiveness appears and becomes fixed, and asocial personality traits are formed. At the present time, it is necessary to consider the formation of information and computer literacy as a mechanism to counteract the negative impact of the information environment and a necessary condition for developing an effective strategy for the social adaptation of elderly people.


2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nagesh Jamwal

Background – Elderly people face many psychological, physical and socio economic morbidities due to ageing. Institutional settings have been opened for those elderly people who are neither able to take care of themselves nor is there any person to look after them. Objectives- The present research work was conducted to study the quality of life, loneliness and psychological distress of the elderly males and females living in institutions and non-institutional settings in urban Jammu district. Methods –The study was conducted using purposive sampling on 40 elderly living in institutional settings and 40 elderly living in non- institutional settings in the age range of 60-80 years. Tools used – GHQ  by Gautam, Nuhawan and Kamal ,UCLA loneliness scale(Russell, 1996)  and WHO (QOL-BREF, 1998),  was used. Results – The results revealed significant differences on loneliness and quality of life between those living in institutional settings and those living with their families.


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-57
Author(s):  
Tomasz Wiatr ◽  
Piotr Chłosta

Lower urinary tract symptoms, including urgency, urgency incontinence, pollakiuria and nocturia are common in the elderly people and has significant impact on quality of life. Pharmacological treatment is recommended when conservative management, such as fluid intake normalization or bladder training, does not alleviate symptoms. Antimuscarinics were often used as the I line treatment for OAB, as these drugs block the activity of the muscarinic M2/M3 receptors in the bladder and provide a significant clinical benefit for OAB symptoms in the elderly people, but their side effects are common, often leading to treatment discontinuation. Mirabegron, a β3-adrenoceptor agonist, shows similar efficacy to antimuscarinic drugs without the risk of anticholinergic effects.


Nutrients ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 3492
Author(s):  
Yong-Suk Kwon ◽  
Yu-Yeong Yang ◽  
Younghee Park ◽  
Yoo-Kyoung Park ◽  
Sohye Kim

This study analyzed dietary assessment and factors according to fruits and vegetables intake in Korean elderly people. We enrolled 8336 Korean elderly people aged ≥65 who participated in the dietary intake survey (24-h recall methods) of the 2013–2018 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination (KNHANES). The intake of fruits and unsalted/non-starchy vegetables was 372.06 g/day. According to age group, the intake in the age group 65–74 years as 422.47 g/day, and the intake in the age group 75 years + was 301.12 g/day. Based on the intake of daily meals and snacks, the intake of fruits and unsalted/non-starchy vegetables was the highest in snack-eating individuals (480.96 g/day). The subjects who consumed more than the World Health Organization (WHO)/World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF)’s plant food intake standards (over 400 g/day of intake of fruits and unsalted/non-starchy vegetables) were 35.47% of the elderly people. These results suggest that it is necessary to develop more fundamental strategies to increase fruits and vegetables intake among elderly people. Furthermore, the study outcomes are expected to provide basic information for developing education programs to improve the dietary life of Korean elderly people.


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