POLYPHARMACY AND POTENTIAL DRUG – DRUG INTERACTIONS IN ELDERLY PATIENTS OF RURAL POPULATION ATTENDING GENERAL MEDICINE DEPARTMENT OF A TERTIARY CARE TEACHING HOSPITAL
AbstractAim and Objective: The present study was done to assess the prevalence of polypharmacy and to study its consequences in elderly people. Methodology: The study was prospective observational study, done in 500 elderly patients attending the Department of General Medicine in rural tertiary care teaching hospital in Telangana. The study was done for a period of 6 months from April 2019 to September 2019. Descriptive data was expressed in mean and percentages. Chi- square test was done to assess potential drug-drug interactions and number of medications received by the patients (p<0.05 is considered significant). Results: Polypharmacy was present in 70.75% of elderly patients. The mean drugs prescribed for each patient was 5.7%. Severe potential drug-drug interactions were present in 16.82% patients. Potentially inappropriate medications were assessed using Beer’s criteria and were present in 35.52% of patients. Conclusion: This study thus highlights the importance of reducing the practice of polypharmacy by the treating physician to reduce morbidity and to decrease economic burden on the elderly patients.
Article Information
25
513-517
531 KB
223
English
IJPSR
Abhigna Ailla, Sirisha Goli * and Prasanna Vedula
Department of Pharmacology, RVM Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre, Siddipet, Telangana, India.
dr.sireesha.g@gmail.com
03 July 2023
02 November 2023
22 November 2023
10.13040/IJPSR.0975-8232.15(2).513-17
01 February 2024
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