Potential drug therapy problems on an elderly nursing home population

Abstract

The elderly population and the incidence of chronic diseases are growing rapidly in Brazil. This raises the demand for health services (like Nursing Homes - NH) and drugs, exposing this population to Potential Drug Therapy Problems (PDTP). A cross-sectional study in a Brazilian NH was developed through prescription analyses. PDTP were accounted when one of the following were detected: double therapy (DT); sub-dose; overdose; drug-drug interaction (DDI); food-drug interaction (FDI); Potentially Inappropriate Medication (PIM) according to the Beers Criteria; PIM according to the STOPP (Screening Tool for Older Persons’ Prescriptions). 116 PDTP were identified (17 DT, 16 sub-doses, an overdose, 52 DDI, 10 FDI, and 20 PIM according to Beers). With the STOPP, 143 PDTP were detected. Safety PDTP were the most frequent. The high number of PDTP detected indicates a low level of quality of the prescriptions, showing the need for the pharmacist work towards elderly drug therapy upgrade.