Pattern of medication use among the elderly at one nursing center for terminally-ill patients in the east coast Malaysia: a cross-sectional study

• Main Authors: Ismail, Azlini, Mustafa Al-Ahmad, Basma Ezzat, Mohd, Farah Natashah, Mustafa, Nazih Shaban, Che Musa, Muhd Firdaus, Ardini, Yunita Dewi, Abdul Halim, Mohd Firdaus Akbar
• Format: Conference or Workshop Item
• Language: English
• Published: 2021
• Subjects: R Medicine (General); RM Therapeutics. Pharmacology; RS Pharmacy and materia medica
• Online Access: http://irep.iium.edu.my/95586/25/95586_%20Pattern%20of%20medication%20use%20among%20the%20elderly.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/95586/

The elderly populations who often have multiple medical problems usually requires comprehensive care and this include an increase in medication use. This project aims to assess the pattern of medication use and the prevalence of polypharmacy as well as to screen for the use of potentially inappropriate medications among the elderly residents at one nursing centre for terminally-ill patients in East coast Malaysia. Prior to the study, ethical approval was obtained from IIUM Research Ethical Committee (IREC 2019-166). This cross-sectional study involved residents aged 60 years old and above (n=73) that fulfil the inclusion criterion of taking at least one medication. Patient’s sociodemographic profile and medication use patterns were obtained from patient’s personal folder and descriptive analysis was run using IBM SPSS Version 26 software. The list of medications was cross-checked with the list of American Geriatrics Society (AGS) 2019 Updated AGS Beers Criteria® for potentially inappropriate medication (PIM) use in older adults. From 73 elderly residents, their mean age was 72 ± 9.07 years old, with the majority were Malays (83.6%), males (50.7%), Muslims (86.3%), single (53.4%), bed-bound, and dependent to the care-takers for their daily activities (75.3%). Polypharmacy (concurrent drugs between five to eight drugs) occurred in one-fifth of the residents (21.9%). Most residents were on cholesterol-lowering (72.6%) and antihypertensive (64.4%) drugs. Other common medications include blood-thinning agents (37%), anti-diabetic (21.9%), vitamin B (19.2%) and iron (16.4%) supplements. Several medications listed in 2019 AGS Updated Beers Criteria such as prazosin (1.4%), ranitidine (6.8%), colchicine (1.4%), lorazepam (1.4%), and chlorpromazine (1.4 %) were in use by the minority of residents. In conclusion, the prevalence of polypharmacy in this study was moderate with some minor use of PIM. The use of PIM however should be re-considered to minimise adverse drug reactions and to improve health conditions of these residents.