SEARCHCROSS-SECTIONALgeriatrics, internal medicine

cross-sectional·geriatrics, internal medicine, cardiology, endocrinology, clinical trial·PMC10882417

Analysis of Drugs Prescribed to Elderly Patients in a Tertiary Health Care Center in Raipur, Central India: An Observational Study

Cureus · 10 authors, 4 centres

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TL;DR

It found polypharmacy was common, with cardiovascular and diabetes drugs being the most frequently prescribed, and highlighted the need for caution with potential drug interactions.

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This cross-sectional observational study analyzed prescription patterns for 234 elderly patients (mean age 68.70 years) at a single tertiary hospital in India. The average number of drugs per prescription was 5.92. The study highlights polypharmacy and the high prevalence of cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, but is limited by its single-center design and inability to comment on prescription appropriateness.

STUDY TYPE

cross-sectional

SPECIALTY

geriatrics

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AI pipeline

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100% · A

ORIGINAL PAPER

PMC10882417

Analysis of Drugs Prescribed to Elderly Patients in a Tertiary Health Care Center in Raipur, Central India: An Observational Study

Cureus

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ABSTRACT

Background Most elderly patients suffer from multiple diseases and are on multiple drugs for treatment. Polypharmacy in the elderly, physiological changes with old age, changes in the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamic effects of many drugs, and newer drug prescription trends for diseases like diabetes and cardiovascular disease make drug prescribing in the elderly more difficult. There are many chances of drug-drug interactions with easily available over-the-counter (OTC) medications. To prevent the irrational use of drugs in the elderly, there is a need for prescription analysis studies. Prescription analysis studies will help in finding errors in prescriptions and also change trends in the use of medication among the elderly. Methodology This cross-sectional observation study was conducted on 234 elderly patients to investigate medicine use patterns among the geriatric patients attending the Medicine Outpatient Department in a tertiary care teaching hospital. Drug data were collected from the study participants after obtaining written informed consent and analysed, including demographic details, personal history, disease history, and details of the drug, including the generic name of the drug, dose and duration of therapy, and prescription pattern. The proportions of drugs prescribed for different diseases were analysed. Also, the drugs were analysed as per their pharmacological profiles. Results and interpretation A total of 1298 drug prescriptions were analysed in this study. Of the total participants, 60.26% were male, 35% were unemployed, 53% were retired, and 27% were taking OTC herbal medications. Most of the patients included in this study were suffering from diabetes, hypertension, and other comorbidities. Telmisartan and telmisartan in combination with other drugs were the most commonly encountered prescription drugs, i.e., 24% among the cardiovascular drugs. Aspirin and statins alone or in combination were the most commonly encountered prescriptions, i.e., 27.88% of the drugs used for prophylaxis of cardiovascular diseases. Conclusion This study showed a prescription pattern for the elderly and highlighted precautions to be taken with some of the prescribed drugs. As polypharmacy is observed with elderly prescriptions, possible drug interactions must be taken into account. Regular prescription analysis of drugs prescribed to the elderly will help in the appropriate and rational use of drugs.

CITATION EXPORT

Yogendra Keche, Nitin R Gaikwad, Preetam N Wasnik et al.. Analysis of Drugs Prescribed to Elderly Patients in a Tertiary Health Care Center in Raipur, Central India: An Observational Study. Cureus. (2024). https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.52770

AUTHORS

10 · 4 CENTRES

Yogendra Keche, Nitin R Gaikwad, Preetam N Wasnik, Keshao Nagpure, Md Sabah Siddiqui, Apoorva Joshi, Suryaprakash Dhaneria, Gevesh Dewangan, Jhasaketan Meher, Pranita Das

1 Pharmacology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Raipur, Raipur, IND
2 General Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Raipur, Raipur, IND
3 General Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Nagpur, Nagpur, IND
4 Pharmacology and Therapeutics, Ruxmaniben Deepchand Gardi Medical College, Ujjain, IND

EDITOR / REVIEWER

Alexander Muacevic, John R Adler