Pharmacotherapy in Social Institutions for the Elderly

Overview

The authors assessed the pharmacotherapy in 25 old age homes in the Trnava region to thedate of December 31, 2001. The people took a total of 8468 drugs, range 0-13 drugs.On averagethe use was 4.8 regularly used drugs per head. The authors observe an increasing trend ofregularly used drugs with advancing age. Most drugs (5.42) were used by the age group 80-84years.Women used drugs more frequently (94%) than men (83%) and women used more drugs(5.2) than men (4.1). Only 9.9% of the inmates did not use any drugs. In addition to regularlyused drugs 48.4% used drugs irregularly - „as required“. The most frequently regularly useddrugs according to theATC classificationwere psychopharmaceuticals (50.1%), nitrates (42.6%)and drugs preventing thrombocyte aggregation (35.7%). The authors recommend regular visitsof social institutions (once every two months) incl. checking of prescriptions. They state thatdrug prescription to our senior citizens does not differ from the position abroad.

Key words:
of people - institutional care - old age pensioners homes - boarding houses for oldage pensioners - regular and irregular use of drugs - groups of drugs according to ATCclassification - visits of inmates.