ANALYSIS OF PHARMACOTHERAPEUTIC PROFILE AND DISEASES PREVALENT IN ELDERLY PATIENTS TREATED AT THE UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL OF RIBEIRÃO PRETO – SP

Abstract

In Brazil individuals are considered elderly over 60 years old. The physiological changes associated with aging may alter the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of drugs and drug use increases characterizes the practice of polypharmacy, makes the elderly are more susceptible to adverse effects and often use inappropriate drugs. A drug is considered inappropriate when the risk of its use outweighs the benefit, because it is drugs with high risk of adverse reactions to medication, without sufficient evidence of benefits and safer therapeutic alternatives exist. Therefore, the
aim of this work was to analyze the profile of drug use, most prevalent pathologies, and identify the drugs considered inappropriate for use in the elderly. This is a descriptive, cross-sectional, retrospective study with a quantitative approach in a sample of 50 randomly chosen participants. We observed the occurrence of 35 diseases among the elderly, especially chronic diseases such as diabetes mellitus type 2 and hypertension. We identified the prescription of a total of 362 drugs, with an average of 7.24 medications prescribed per patient, ranging from 2 to 13. The inappropriate use of drugs, according to Beer’s criteria, was present at 56% of prescriptions. We conclude that the prevalence of chronic
diseases in this age group has contributed to the practice of polypharmacy, the use of inappropriate drugs, suggesting alternative measures of pharmacotherapy for safety, efficacy therapeutic use of drugs among the elderly.