著者

Yoko Fushiki Kensuke Kinoshita Yasuharu Tokuda

出版者

日本プライマリ・ケア連合学会

雑誌

General Medicine (ISSN:13460072)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.15, no.2, pp.110-116, 2014-12-20 (Released:2014-12-24)

参考文献数

17

被引用文献数

13

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Background: Elderly patients are considered to be at risk of developing adverse drug events (ADEs) because they tend to receive a greater number of medications. The purpose of our study is to determine the prevalence of ADEs related to polypharmacy and causative admissions of patients in Japanese acute care hospitalization.Methods: In retrospective cohort study, we analyzed 700 consecutive elderly patients admitted to the department of medicine of a Japanese community hospital in 2011. ADEs were defined by World Health Organization–Uppsala Monitoring Centre criteria. Polypharmacy was defined as five or more medications.Results: The mean age was 79.5 years (men, 54%). The mean number of medications was 6.36 +/− 4.15 (maximum, 26). Polypharmacy was observed in 63% of cases. ADEs were identified in 4.9% (95% CI, 3.5–6.7%). The mean numbers of medications among patients with ADEs and those without ADEs were 9.3 +/− 3.4 and 6.2 +/− 4.1, respectively. A greater number of medications was significantly associated with ADEs (p < 0.001). Polypharmacy was identified in 91% of patients with ADEs, while it was noted in 62% of patients without ADEs (p = 0.001). Using logistic regression analysis, polypharmacy was significantly associated with ADEs (Odds ratio 5.89, 95% CI 1.74–19.9). The highest number of ADEs were identified among patients on antiplatelets or anticoagulants (n = 8), followed by benzodiazepines and NSAIDs (n = 4 for both). The most common ADEs were gastrointestinal bleeding, nausea and congestive heart failure.Conclusion: ADEs complicated to about 5% of acute care elderly hospitalizations in Japan. Polypharmacy was significantly associated with these ADEs.

著者

Miyuki Shimizu Kensuke Kinoshita Kazuya Hattori Yoshio Ota Takao Kanai Hiroyuki Kobayashi Yasuharu Tokuda

出版者

一般社団法人 日本内科学会

雑誌

Internal Medicine (ISSN:09182918)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.51, no.10, pp.1207-1210, 2012 (Released:2012-05-15)

参考文献数

7

被引用文献数

7 25 2

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Objective Dehydration is a common condition and frequent cause of hospitalization in older people, despite the caregiver's high attention in attempt to avoid its occurrence. In this study, various physical signs were examined as clinical signs of dehydration in elderly. Methods A prospective observational study was conducted in an acute care teaching hospital. Consecutive elderly patients who were admitted to the Department of Medicine were evaluated. Dehydration was defined as a calculated serum osmolality above 295 mOsm/L. The patients diagnosed as dehydrated or not dehydrated were observed for physical signs of dehydration. Data of blood and urine chemistry analysis were also compared between the two groups. Results A total of 27 elderly patients admitted with acute medical conditions were included in this study. For the physical signs, dry axilla had moderate sensitivity (44%) and excellent specificity (89%) to detect dehydration. Sunken eyes and delayed capillary refill time also showed relatively good specificity (83%). For laboratory data, the mean concentrations of serum sodium of the dehydrated group (146 mEq/L) was significantly higher (p<0.01) than those of the non-dehydrated group (134 mEq/L). Conclusion Physical signs of dehydration in elderly showed relatively good specificity but poor sensitivity. The evaluation of the axillary moisture could help assess dehydration as well as laboratory data analysis such as serum sodium concentration.