Fall-Contributing Adverse Effects of the Most Frequently Prescribed Drugs

2003 ◽  
Vol 93 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert G. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Adverse Effects ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Elderly Population ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Actual Number ◽  
Drug Induced ◽  
Traumatic Injuries ◽  
Fall Injuries ◽  
Induced Changes

The 200 most frequently prescribed medications in 2000 were reviewed for adverse effects that have the potential to cause fall injuries. The actual number of different medications reviewed was 169 after eliminating duplicates due to listing of medications by both brand and generic names. Of these 169 medications, adverse effects of documented traumatic injuries and falls were reported for 9.5% (n = 16). Four hundred forty-eight adverse effects were identified and organized into 13 broad categories representing drug-induced changes in nervous, circulatory, and muscular systems. These changes were reported for 157 medications reviewed (92.9%) and could result in fall injuries. The accompanying list of medications can serve as a ready reference for podiatric physicians and other health-care professionals when monitoring and counseling patients regarding the potential for medication-induced fall injuries, which are especially common in the elderly population. (J Am Podiatr Med Assoc 93(1): 42-50, 2003)

The Geriatric Patient and Long-term Care: An Opportunity and Challenge for Pharmacy

1988 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 156-160
Author(s):  
Martin D. Higbee
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Adverse Drug Reactions ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Elderly Population ◽  
Long Term Care ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Educational Background ◽  
Drug Reactions ◽  
Term Care

A significant interest in the elderly population has occurred over the last decade as evidenced by the increase in journals, journal articles, books, and research regarding the aged patient. This explosion of data concerning the elderly is essential since our educational background in disease process and therapy is generally learned from the young adult perspective. Additionally, the elderly patient represents a high-risk patient to health care professionals for a variety of reasons: (1) the elderly person has in many cases multiple chronic diseases; (2) has complicated, multiple drug regimens; (3) has an increased incidence of adverse drug reactions compared to younger adults; (4) exhibits atypical presenting symptoms of disease and adverse drug reactions; (5) is at risk for iatrogenic disease; and (6) is neglected generally due to negative stereotypical attitudes held by health care professionals. The elderly population, however, represents an opportunity for pharmacy services due to the increasing numbers of elderly, the opportunity to provide new, nontraditional, and innovative services, as well as the emergence of new practice areas of health care delivery for our elderly. Additionally, there is a need to enhance educational experiences in long-term care and conduct geriatric and gerontologic research in these settings.

scholarly journals Elderly and drugs: risks and necessity of rational 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 ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Quality Of Life ◽  
Adverse Effects ◽  
Elderly Population ◽  
Adverse Drug Events ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
External Factors ◽  
Access To Information ◽  
Inappropriate Use ◽  
The World

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.

scholarly journals Travel, Pilgrimage and Health Hazards

JMS SKIMS ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 87-90
Author(s):  
Shariq Rashid Masoodi
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Health Hazards ◽  
Health Conditions ◽  
Anticipatory Guidance ◽  
Health Issues ◽  
Preventative Measures ◽  
Safety And Health ◽  
Potential Risks

Today more people are travelling than ever before. Travel uWith more people travelling, health care professionals should become more familiar with some of the unique health issues associated with travel and pilgrimage.Travel has some unique safety and health issues, especially for the young and the elderly. Physicians need to be aware of the health issues related to travelling, identify people at risk for health problems during travel, and provide appropriate anticipatory guidance. Many guidelines have been developed to help inform physicians about some of the health issues of people travelling. These guidelines are to provide information on the risks of travel to people, determine which pre-existing health conditions may be complicated by a particular mode of travel, and offer preventative measures that can minimize potential risks to people during the travel. sed to be a leisure which could only be afforded by a few.... JMS 2012;15(2):87-90

scholarly journals Gendered Articulations of Control and Care on Social Media During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Hungary

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katinka Linnamäki
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Health Care Workers ◽  
Elderly Population ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
System Of Care ◽  
Care Work ◽  
Unpaid Care ◽  
Work Related ◽  
Care Workers ◽  
The Government

The purpose of this paper is to examine the Hungarian Fidesz-KDNP government´s discursive practices of control and care during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The paper researches the Hungarian government’s communication on the official Hungarian COVID-19 Facebook page during the first wave of the pandemic. Its aim is to answer the question how the Hungarian government articulated control and care to reinforce sedimented gendered division of care work and institutions of control to tackle the potential disruption of the system of care before the widespread vaccination of the elderly population was available in the country. The paper argues that the pandemic has allowed the government to exert control in areas, such as the crisis in the workforce market and health care system, as well as in the destabilized system of care work. The main finding is that in the material the government performs control over care work, whose intensified discussion during the pandemic could lead to a potential disruption within the illiberal logic on two different levels. First, physical care work related to immediate physical needs, like hunger, clothing, pain enacted by female shoppers, female health care workers and female social workers, is newly defined during the pandemic as local, family-bound and a naturally female task. Second, the government articulates care work, either as potentially harmful (for the elderly population and thus indirectly to the government’s familialist politics), or as vulnerable and in need of protection from outside influences (portrayed through the interaction of health care workers and “hospital commanders”). This enables the government to perform full state control over care workers through the mobilization of police and military masculinity and to strengthen and re-naturalize the already existing hierarchies between traditional gender roles from a new perspective during the pandemic. This state of affairs highlights the vulnerability both of the elderly population, on whom its familialism builds, and of the system of informal care work, which builds on the unpaid care work of female citizens, who paradoxically are also articulated as potential harm for the elderly and for the system.

scholarly journals Allopurinol Induced Stevens-Johnson Syndrome

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 829-831
Author(s):  
Athul Gopan ◽  
Anukrishna V P ◽  
Devina Janeendran ◽  
Athulya Subhash ◽  
Jacob Thomas ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Adverse Effects ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Rare Case ◽  
Oxidase Inhibitor ◽  
Stevens Johnson Syndrome ◽  
Xanthine Oxidase Inhibitor ◽  
Normal Limits ◽  
Johnson Syndrome ◽  
Life Threatening

Stevens-Johnson Syndrome (SJS) is an acute, self-limited, rare but life-threatening disease that manifests as severe mucocutaneous blistering and erosions. Here we report a rare case of allopurinol-induced SJS. A 25-year-old male patient with no other comorbidities was admitted to the hospital with complaints of fever, redness of eyes, swelling of lips with discharge and crusting, extensive erosions in the oral mucosa for the last 4 days, following consumption of allopurinol for a duration of 1 month. Investigations were within normal limits. The offending drug was withdrawn and he was treated with corticosteroids, antimicrobials, and other supportive measures. Allopurinol, a Xanthine oxidase inhibitor is mostly used for the treatment of primary and secondary hyperuricemia, Health care professionals must be aware of the spectrum of adverse effects of this drug and must take urgent measures once the diagnosis is suspected especially to save the patient from such severe or fatal reactions like SJS/Toxic epidermal necrolysis (TEN).

scholarly journals Romanian GPs Involvement in Caring for the Mental Health Problems of the Elderly Population: A Cross-Sectional Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raluca Sfetcu ◽  
Daciana Toma ◽  
Catalina Tudose ◽  
Cristian Vladescu
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Care ◽  
Mental Health Care ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Financial Incentives ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Early Recognition ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Health Problems ◽  
National Society

The mental health of the elderly is a matter of increased concern in the context of an aging population since currently only a small fraction of this population is receiving adequate care. The provision of treatment in primary care by the General Practitioners (GPs) has been proposed for over a decade as a potential solution, as services offered by GPs are more accessible, less susceptible to stigma, and have a more comprehensive view of the other health care problems that the elderly might suffer from. In this study, we explored the perception of Romanian GPs regarding their practice and roles in caring for the mental health of the elderly as well as the willingness to increase their future involvement in the management of dementia and other mental health problems. Data was collected via an online questionnaire structured on four dimensions: (1) GPs' sociodemographic profile and practice characteristics, (2) GPs assessment of the services available for elderly with mental health problems, (3) GPs current involvement in mental health care for different categories of problems, and (4) factors that might influence the future involvement of GPs in providing care for elderly with mental health problems. The survey was sent via the member mailing lists of the National Society for Family Medicine. Results show that GPs are currently limited by prescribing possibilities, available resources and knowledge in the area, but they are willing to expand their role in the areas of early recognition and prevention of mental health problems as well as providing disease management and collaborative care. An improved communication with mental health care professionals, a better access to resources and having more financial incentives are the three most important categories for GPs to increase their involvement. In conclusion, increasing the access to personal and professional resources and setting up functional communication channels with specialized mental health care could motivate GPs to provide timely mental health support to elderly patients.

scholarly journals Ageing Society and SARS-CoV-2 Mortality: Does the Healthcare Absorptive Capacity Matter?

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 277
Author(s):  
Mohammad Reza Farzanegan
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Absorptive Capacity ◽  
Elderly Population ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Ageing Society

This study examines the effect of the elderly population on SARS-CoV-2 Disease (COVID-19) mortality for a sample of 146 countries. It shows that the elderly population is robustly associated with higher COVID-19 mortality. This effect, however, decreases significantly in countries with higher health care absorptive capacity. The results are robust to control for a set of economic, institutional and regional variables.

Les motifs du suicide gériatrique: une étude exploratoire

2003 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 197-205
Author(s):  
Luc Legris ◽  
Michel Préville
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Health Care System ◽  
Health Care Professionals ◽  
Basic Needs ◽  
The Elderly ◽  
Elderly Persons ◽  
Need To Belong ◽  
Psychological Autopsy ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Care System

ABSTRACTFive semi-structured interviews were conducted, using the psychological autopsy method, in order to document the causes of geriatric suicide and to describe the interaction among suicidal elderly persons, their personal and social environments, and health care professionals. The results of this study support our hypothesis that elderly persons view suicide as a means of alleviating the psychological suffering associated with the frustration they experience on account of their inability to satisfy their basic needs. Three types of basic needs that affect the suicidal tendency of elderly persons were identified: the need to self-actualize, the need to belong, and the need to feel safe. The results also show that the people who make up the social and personal environment of elderly persons have a limited role in the prevention of suicide. This is due to their unfamiliarity with the problems surrounding the fulfilment of the basic needs of the suicidal elderly. Furthermore, as revealed in the cases studied here, the intervention of the health care system has centred mainly on the use of medication as a treatment for symptoms of psychological distress. The health care system pays little attention to the dissonance associated with the frustration suicidal elderly persons experience on account of their inability to satisfy their basic needs. Finally, the outcome of this qualitative study suggests that understanding the basic needs of the elderly can be very useful in understanding geriatric suicide.

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