TY - JOUR
T1 - Polypharmacy among the elderly in the Republic of Srpska
T2 - extent and implications for the future
AU - Marković-Peković, Vanda
AU - Škrbić, Ranko
AU - Petrović, Aleksandar
AU - Vlahović-Palčevski, Vera
AU - Mrak, Jana
AU - Bennie, Marion
AU - Fadare, Joseph
AU - Kwon, Hye Young
AU - Schiffers, Krijn
AU - Truter, Ilse
AU - Godman, Brian
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2016/9/2
Y1 - 2016/9/2
N2 - The prescribing of medicines is a fundamental component of care for the elderly; however, there is increasing concern with polypharmacy and its impact on morbidity, mortality and costs. As a result, long-term prescription-medicine use and the prevalence of polypharmacy in the elderly in the Republic of Srpska were analyzed. The findings were subsequently used to suggest potential future measures. A retrospective study of all elderly patients during 2005–2010 stratified by age group (three groups), sex and long-term medicine use was performed. Polypharmacy (five or more medicines) increased from 1.4% of the elderly taking medicines long-term to 3.6% by 2010, with 53.6% of elderly taking two or more medicines long-term. The most prevalent diseases were cardiovascular diseases and diabetes. Most prescriptions were in accordance with recent guidelines; however, there was a concern with appreciable prescribing of digoxin and aminophylline. Whilst polypharmacy rates are low in the Republic, the increasing rate is a concern. Further studies are planned.
AB - The prescribing of medicines is a fundamental component of care for the elderly; however, there is increasing concern with polypharmacy and its impact on morbidity, mortality and costs. As a result, long-term prescription-medicine use and the prevalence of polypharmacy in the elderly in the Republic of Srpska were analyzed. The findings were subsequently used to suggest potential future measures. A retrospective study of all elderly patients during 2005–2010 stratified by age group (three groups), sex and long-term medicine use was performed. Polypharmacy (five or more medicines) increased from 1.4% of the elderly taking medicines long-term to 3.6% by 2010, with 53.6% of elderly taking two or more medicines long-term. The most prevalent diseases were cardiovascular diseases and diabetes. Most prescriptions were in accordance with recent guidelines; however, there was a concern with appreciable prescribing of digoxin and aminophylline. Whilst polypharmacy rates are low in the Republic, the increasing rate is a concern. Further studies are planned.
KW - Polypharmacy
KW - Republic of Srpska
KW - cardiovascular disease
KW - drug utilisation
KW - guidelines
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84949752688&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1586/14737167.2016.1115347
DO - 10.1586/14737167.2016.1115347
M3 - Article
C2 - 26671843
AN - SCOPUS:84949752688
SN - 1473-7167
VL - 16
SP - 609
EP - 618
JO - Expert Review of Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research
JF - Expert Review of Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research
IS - 5
ER -