Patterns and characteristics of polypharmacy among elderly residents in Danish nursing homes

Jacob Astorp; Mimoza Gjela; Pernille Jensen; Rasmus D Bak; Parisa Gazerani

doi:10.2144/fsoa-2020-0039

Patterns and characteristics of polypharmacy among elderly residents in Danish nursing homes

Future Sci OA. 2020 May 29;6(8):FSO590. doi: 10.2144/fsoa-2020-0039.

Authors

Jacob Astorp¹, Mimoza Gjela¹, Pernille Jensen¹, Rasmus D Bak¹, Parisa Gazerani¹

Affiliation

¹ Department of Health Science & Technology, Faculty of Medicine, Aalborg University, 9220 Aalborg E, Denmark.

Abstract

Aim: To identify patterns and characteristics of polypharmacy among elderly residents in Danish nursing homes in the Northern region of Denmark.

Materials & methods: Twenty-five nursing homes were contacted, where each supplied 20 randomly selected anonymized residents' information. Residents were 65 years or older, concurrently taking five or more medications. Drug-drug interactions and potential adverse effects were investigated.

Results: One hundred residents (68% females; 32% males) were included. The most prevalent co-morbid condition was cardiovascular disease, and the most prevalent medications were for gastrointestinal- and metabolism-related conditions. Age influenced the number of drugs (p = 0.013) and drug-drug interactions per resident (p = 0.039), with a positive correlation.

Conclusion: Elderly residents of the studied nursing homes were potentially affected by an inappropriate polypharmacy.

Keywords: drug; drug–drug interaction; elderly; multimorbidity; nursing homes; polypharmacy.