Dosage of Acetylsalicylic Acid inAntiaggregation Indications and Effect of Aimed Intervention

Overview

Acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) administered in small doses markedly reduces the mortality fromcomplications of cardiovascular ischaemia. At present maintenance doses of 100 mg per day oreven lower doses are recommended.The objective of the present work was to evaluate the frequency of administration andrecommended dosage of ASA as an antiaggregant in patients admitted for hospitalization inthe geriatric department and to evaluate the effectiveness of the intervention of the hospitaldrug commission to reduce the recommended dosage.The authors evaluated the recommended ASA dosage in two groups of geriatric patientscomprising 100 subjects each. The first group was formed by patients admitted to hospital inJanuary 1997, the second group by patients admitted in January 1998 after the interventionsrecommended by the drug commission.ASA was prescribed to 35% and 31% patients resp. The mean dose in the first group was 197mg, in the second group 89 mg. In the first group 66% patients had a dose of 200 mg or morewhile in the second group doses above 100 mg/day were prescribed only to 3% of the patients.Based on these results the authors evaluate the intervention to reduced prescribed daily ASAdoses in antiaggregation maintenance therapy as highly effective.

Key words:
acetylsalicylic acid - dosage-drug commission.