A Retrospective, Observational Study Effect of Polypharmacy and Drug Interactions in Elderly Patients

As the age increase the comorbidities also increases and also chance of polypharmacy. Polypharmacy is termed as the concurrent use of multiple medications (5 or more drugs), whether prescription or over-the-counter, by a single patient. The use of multiple drugs increases the risk of inappropriate prescribing and significantly lowers adherence to drug regimens and results in DDIs. The main aim of study to find drug interactions in elderly patients as a result of polypharmacy and also determine the drug use. A retrospective, observational study was carried out to find among elderly in-patients age above or equal to 60 years for over a period of 3 months. Data was collected from medical record department (MRD) in a pre-designed format which includes demographic details, drugs prescribed, drug per prescription and drug- drugs interactions (DDIs) encountered, DDIs are calculated using drugs.com. during the study we found that average number of drugs are 8.9 (±5.6) and mean age was 70.69 ± 6.89 year between the range 60 -88 years. Drugs involving moderate drug interaction (66.95%) were predominately seen when compared to minor (20.87%) and major (12.18%) drug interactions. The study reveals that there is statistically significant (p<0.05) between the number of drugs per prescription and frequency of drug interactions. Highest number of inappropriate drug combinations are seen between aspirin and anticoagulants like enoxaparin and heparin. Polypharmacy is a risk factor in elderly which will results in serious consequences like ADRs and DDIs. These problems can be overcome by strictly monitoring which will helps in maintaining the quality of life in elderly.