2024-07-08 05:28:10
A survey found that 4 out of 10 elderly patients take more than 5 pills a day. The number of patients taking more than 5 medications, known as ‘polypharmacy’, has increased over the past 5 years.
According to the international academic journal in the field of geriatrics, ‘BMC Geriatrics’, published on the 8th, Professor Shin Woo-young’s team from the Department of Family Medicine at Chung-Ang University Gwangmyeong Hospital confirmed this after analyzing 661,206 elderly people aged 65 or older who were prescribed medication between 2014 and 2018.
Polypharmacy is the use of five or more medications simultaneously. Polypharmacy is associated with potentially inappropriate medication use, adverse drug reactions, and increased risk of hospitalization and death.
The research team targeted oral medications prescribed to the subjects for at least 180 days among the drugs included in polypharmacy.
As a result, the number of polypharmacy patients per 1,000 elderly patients increased from 414.89 in 2014, 417.79 in 2015, 423.51 in 2016, 428.84 in 2017, and 436.91 in 2018.
Among them, the rate of polypharmacy among patients aged 85 and older has increased significantly. The number of polypharmacy patients per 1,000 patients aged 85 and older increased from 472.5 in 2014, 481.13 in 2015, 493.99 in 2016, 509.75 in 2017, and 525.24 in 2018.
Also, among patients taking multiple medications, the most prescribed drugs were ‘aspirin (100 mg)’ for preventing cardiovascular disease, ‘atorvastatin’ for dyslipidemia, ‘metformin’ for diabetes, ‘glimepiride’ for diabetes, and ‘rosuvastatin’ for hyperlipidemia, in that order during the entire period.
The prescription rate of potentially inappropriate drugs for the elderly has decreased somewhat compared to five years ago. The prescription rate of ‘Alprazolam’, a narcotic drug and insomnia treatment drug, decreased from 11.52% in 2014 to 10.29% in 2018, the prescription rate of ‘Diazepam’, a narcotic sleep anesthetic drug, decreased from 7.09% to 6.13%, the prescription rate of ‘Amitriptyline’, a tricyclic antidepressant, decreased from 6.77% to 5.71%, the prescription rate of ‘Zolpidem’, a psychotropic drug and hypnotic sedative, decreased from 6.21% to 5.45%, and ‘Dimenhydrinate’, used for nausea and vomiting, decreased from 6.47% to 5.24%.
However, it was found that the prescription rate for alprazolam significantly increased from 11.79% to 12.37% for patients aged 85 years or older.
“The prevalence of polypharmacy was increasing among the elderly,” the researchers said. “Commonly prescribed polypharmacy, such as benzodiazepines and tricyclic antidepressants, continued to persist among patients aged 85 and older.”
Meanwhile, the results of this study were published in the June issue of the international academic journal BMC Geriatrics.
(Seoul = News 1)
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2024-07-08 05:28:10