Misuse of drugs in Romanian elderly population
(2021)
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- (en) BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Adverse drug reactions are responsible for approximatively 20% of hospital admissions in geriatric units. In Romania, around 18% of the total population is represented by people > 65 years old, the main cause of death being represented by atherosclerotic complications: myocardial infarction and stroke. Thus, we aimed to identify potentially inappropriate associations of drugs that can increase the iatrogenic events in elderly, leading to increased mortality. METHODS: This retrospective study included 2790 chronic electronic prescriptions, issued by physicians (between January 2018 and March 2019) and collected from 18 community pharmacies in Romania. The collected prescriptions were screen by a team of specialists (including cardiologist, nephrologist, generalist and clinical pharmacist) based on the Beers 2019 Criteria and the current European guidelines for each major pathology. RESULTS: 2.33% for prescriptions had an ACE inhibitor associated with an ARB, followed by “The Triple Whammy” therapy (associations of RAAS inhibitors + diuretics + NSAIDs) in 2% of cases, COX2 NSAIDs were prescribed as a chronic treatment in patients associating cardiovascular disorders (>2weeks) in 1.33% of cases, 1.15% of prescriptions has an RAAS inhibitor associated with an NSAID and 0.43% of cases had an AVK associated with an NSAID. CONCLUSIONS: Our study highlights an increased prescription of drug associations having a high risk of acute kidney injury (functional renal failure) and cardiovascular complications. Thus, the study draws attention to the urgent need for appropriate pharmacological treatment in order to also decrease the iatrogenic risk, in a population where the leading cause of death is represented by atherosclerotic complications.
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Buda, V. O., Dalleur, O., Prelipcean, A., Man, D. E., Cretu, O., Andor, M., Danciu, C., Ledeti, I., & Petrescu, L. (2021). Misuse of drugs in Romanian elderly population. Atherosclerosis, 331, e269-e270. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atherosclerosis.2021.06.827 (Original work published 2021)