Volume : VII, Issue : XI, November - 2017

POLYPHARMACY AMONG GERIATRIC PATIENTS

Dr. S. Siddharthan, Dr. T. Gowri Thilagam, Rashika Subbiah

Abstract :

 OBJECTIVES:  To assess the prevalence of polypharmacy among elderly patients in a tertiary care hospital.

METHODOLOGY :Both males and females of age 60years  and above, admitted in the department  of medicine, surgery, obstetrics and gynecology wards for various illnesses were included in this study. Polypharmacy was grouped as follows – 1) < 4 drugs 2) 5–9 drugs 3) 10 –14 drugs. Statistical analysis was done using Chi–Square test and P value < 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant.

RESULTS:26 Patients (8.6%) received < 4drugs;   138 Patients (46%) received 5 –9 drugs;    136 Patients (45%) received 10 –14 drugs; p value <0.001.

CONCLUSION: A significant proportion of hospitalized geriatric patients are exposed to substantial polypharmacy. Further researches are required to identify the risk of adverse drug effects following multiple drug administration and specific potential drug–drug interaction.

Keywords :

Article: Download PDF   DOI : 10.36106/ijar  

Cite This Article:

Dr. S. SIDDHARTHAN, Dr. T. GOWRI THILAGAM, RASHIKA SUBBIAH, POLYPHARMACY AMONG GERIATRIC PATIENTS, INDIAN JOURNAL OF APPLIED RESEARCH : Volume-7 | Issue-11 | November-2017

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