Medication use problems among older adults at a primary care: A narrative of literature review

Development of the EldenCare application: Empowering physicians and clinical pharmacists towards enhancing elderly care

The growing healthcare burden on the elderly population, combined with an increase in prescription drug use, necessitates the development of novel solutions for improving elderly care. EldenCare connects doctors, clinical pharmacists, and elderly patients. EldenCare was developed by a multidisciplinary team comprising geriatricians, clinical pharmacists, and software engineers. The software offers various features tailored to the needs of each user group, revolutionizing medication management and patient care. For geriatricians, EldenCare provides efficient means of recording patient information, scheduling appointments, and documenting follow-up. Clinical pharmacists can take advantage of the software's advanced features, including identifying medication risks, facilitating dose adjustments, identifying potentially inappropriate medications, and tracking adverse drug reactions. Elderly patients benefit from features such as medication alerts, appointment management, medication lists and an adverse drug reaction diary. The study is divided into five distinct phases: requirements phase, design phase, coding & unit testing phase-frontend, coding & unit testing phase-database/cloud, testing phase. The expected benefits of the EldenCare software include increased medication safety, improved communication between healthcare providers and patients, and improved healthcare outcomes for older adults. EldenCare aims to revolutionise medication management and promote a patient-centered healthcare system by empowering clinical pharmacists and engaging older adults in their care-using technology.

Polypharmacy, potentially inappropriate medications and associated factors among older adults with hypertension in primary care

OBJECTIVE

to identify the prevalence and associations of polypharmacy and potentially inappropriate medication use among older adults with hypertension treated in primary care.

METHODS

a cross-sectional study carried out with older adults with hypertension treated at a Family Health Strategy unit. Data collection included analysis of medical records, interviews and multidimensional assessment of older adults. Socio-demographic information and clinical variables were collected. Statistical analysis was performed by multiple logistic regression.

RESULTS

polypharmacy prevalence was 38.09%, and potentially inappropriate medication (PIM), 28.57%. There was a significant association between polypharmacy and PIM use, altered sleep and ethnicity. PIM use was associated with polypharmacy, worse family functioning, and absence of a caregiver. Cognitive decline reduces the prevalence of these medications.

CONCLUSIONS

polypharmacy and PIM use among older adults with hypertension represent a problem in this population, especially among the most vulnerable.

Effect of ultrasound-guided thoracic paravertebral block on perioperative analgesia in elderly patients undergoing video-assisted thoracic lobectomy in China: An interventional clinical randomized controlled trial

BACKGROUND

The aim of this study was to investigate the analgesic effect and safety of ultrasound-guided thoracic paravertebral block (UG-TPVB) in Chinese elderly patients undergoing video-assisted thoracic lobectomy (VATL) and to study the influence of aging factors on these effects.

METHODS

This study was a single-center, single-blind, prospective, randomized, controlled trial. A total of 300 patients scheduled for VATL were recruited and randomly divided into the UG-TPVB group (T group) and conventional anesthesia group (C group) according to the recruitment order, and subgroups were set up according to whether the age was ≥65 years old or not. The postoperative 12, 24, and 48 h static/dynamic visual analog scale (VAS) scores, intraoperative fentanyl consumption, postoperative extubation time, post-anesthesia care unit (PACU) stay time, hospitalization days, postoperative complications, and other indicators were compared between the two groups.

RESULTS

The postoperative 12, 24, and 48 h static/dynamic VAS scores of the T group were significantly lower than those of the C group. The intraoperative fentanyl consumption, postoperative extubation time, PACU stay time, and postoperative hospitalization days were significantly lower than those of the C group. The incidence of postoperative 48 h urinary retention in the T group was significantly lower than that in the C group. These advantages showed no significant difference or slight difference between elderly patients and nonelderly patients, indicating that UG-TPVB did not influence the analgesic effect and safety of VATL patients by age or age difference.

CONCLUSION

UG-TPVB is an effective and safe perioperative analgesia method for elderly VATL patients. Its application improves the quality of life and prognosis of elderly VATL patients.

Trends in hospital admission related to poisoning by, narcotics and psychodysleptics and poisoning by antiepileptic, sedative-hypnotic, and antiparkinsonism drugs in England and Wales between April 1999 and April 2020: An ecological study

Background

This study aimed to investigate the trend of hospital admissions related to poisoning by narcotics and psychodysleptics and poisoning by antiepileptic, sedative-hypnotic, and antiparkinsonism drugs in England and Wales between April 1999 and April 2020.

Methods

An observational ecological study were conducted using data from the Hospital Episode Statistics database in England and the Patient Episode Database for Wales. The rate of hospital admissions with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) was calculated by dividing the number of episodes of poisoning by narcotics and psychodysleptics related admission and poisoning by antiepileptic, sedative-hypnotic, and antiparkinsonism drugs-related admission by the mid-year population from the Office for National Statistics. All analyses were conducted using SPSS version 27.

Results

The total annual number of hospital admissions for narcotics and psychodysfunctionals poisonings increased by 1.40-fold [from 15.70 (95% CI 15.36-16.04) in 1999 to 37.64 (95% CI 37.15-38.13) in 2020 per 100,000 people, p < 0.01]. However, the overall annual number of poisonings by antiepileptic, sedative-hypnotic and antiparkinsonism drugs hospital admissions for various reasons decreased by 12.8% [from 33.55 (95% CI 33.05-34.04) in 1999 to 29.26 (95% CI 28.82-29.69) in 2020 per 100,000 persons, p < 0.05]. Poisoning by other opioids (53.2%), heroin (15.1%), and other synthetic narcotics (13.3%) were the most common reasons for narcotic and psychodysfunctional poisoning. While poisoning by benzodiazepines (54.2%) and poisoning: other antiepileptic and sedative-hypnotic drugs (30.7%) were the most common hospital admission reasons for poisoning by antiepileptic, sedative-hypnotic, and antiparkinsonism.

Conclusion

Poisoning by narcotics have increased in England and Wales over the study period, however, poisoning by antiepileptic, sedative-hypnotic, and antiparkinsonism drugs in England and Wales were relatively stable during the same period. Future initiatives and awareness programs to prevent harmful use and drug poisoning by narcotics, sedative-hypnotic and other medications are needed.

Safety of Mexidol® (ethylmethylhydroxypyridine succinate) in adult patients of different age groups

To reduce the risk of developing adverse events (AEs) and increase the adherence of elderly patients to treatment, it is recommended to limit maximally the total number of prescribed drugs (DR), using one drug for the treatment of two or more pathologies if possible. The drugs that meet the criteria for use in elderly patients and / or patients with comorbidity include the original Russian drug Mexidol® (ethylmethylhydroxypyridine succinate), which has a multimodal mechanism of action and has multiple pharmacological effects. In order to study the safety of Mexidol in comparison with placebo in different age groups of patients with chronic cerebral ischemia, a post hoc analysis of the international multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled MEMO study with an adaptive design was carried out, which assessed the efficacy and safety of sequential therapy with Mexidol®, a solution for intravenous and intramuscular injection, 50 mg/ml (NPK PHARMASOFT, Russia) and Mexidol® FORTE 250 film-coated tablets, 250 mg (NPK PHARMASOFT, Russia) in patients with chronic cerebral ischemia. The study involved 318 patients aged from 40 to 90 years.

Comparable safety and tolerability of Mexidol was demonstrated in middle-aged and elderly people with chronic cerebral ischemia, including patients over 75 years of age.