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The prevalence of polypharmacy in elderly attenders to an emergency department - a problem with a need for an effective solution

We studied the prevalence of polypharmacy in attenders aged 75 years and over to an emergency department (ED) in North London over a period of 1 month. We identified 467 patients in this age group. Analysis of medications being prescribed revealed at least 82 patients on medication with the potentia...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Banerjee, Ashis, Mbamalu, David, Ebrahimi, Sayed, Khan, Arshad Ali, Chan, Toong Foo
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Springer 2011
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3121581/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21635734
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1865-1380-4-22
Descripción
Sumario:We studied the prevalence of polypharmacy in attenders aged 75 years and over to an emergency department (ED) in North London over a period of 1 month. We identified 467 patients in this age group. Analysis of medications being prescribed revealed at least 82 patients on medication with the potential for adverse interaction. There is a need for ED-initiated strategies to identify interactions and for pathways to allow for medication review.