Abstract

CORREIA, Luís Marote; BARROS, Augusto  and  BRAZAO, Maria Luz. Polypharmacy, Inappropriate Drugs and Drug Interactions in the Prescriptions of Patients Older Than 90 Years. Medicina Interna [online]. 2017, vol.24, n.1, pp.24-29. ISSN 0872-671X.

Introduction:Considering the iatrogeny derived from polypharmacy in the very old patient, we characterize its prevalence among the recommended home therapy for patients old than 90 years when they were discharged from the Internal Medicine ward. Methods:We also focused on the identification of avoidable drugs according to 2015 Beers criteria and severe drug-drug interactions. Association analysis with correlation and logistic regression was performed with remaining factors. Results: Of the 422 cases, 70.1% had polypharmacy. In 258 prescriptions (61.1%) there was at least one potentially inappropriate drug, mainly benzodiazepines. It was associated with polypharmacy, dementia and prostatic hyperplasia. On 54 cases (12.8%) there was at least one potential severe drug-drug interaction. The most frequent was acetylsalicylic acid/dipyridamole. Conclusion: Polypharmacy and cerebrovascular disease were the predictors. When defining the pharmacotherapy of the very old patient, doctors should consider these three problems

Keywords : Aged; 80 and over; Drug Interactions; Drug Prescriptions; Medication Errors; Polypharmacy.

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