Assessment of Prevalence and Associated Factors of Polypharmacy among Elderly Patients Admitted to Federal Police Referral Hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
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Date
2021-08
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Addis Abeba University
Abstract
Background: Polypharmacy is one of the major concerns in the healthcare sector as it has astrong association with increased treatment costs, morbidity and adverse drug reactions (ADR).Elderly patients are prone to these risks for they are exposed to many coexisted chronic and acuteillnesses that lead to polypharmacy. In Ethiopia, there is a dearth of studies exploring theprevalence and associated factors of polypharmacy in elderly patients.
Objective: To determine the prevalence of polypharmacy and its associated factors amongelderly patients admitted to Federal Police Referral Hospital (FPRH) in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
Methods: A healthcare facility-based, retrospective cross-sectional study was carried out inFPHR, one of the two federal-level military hospitals in Addis Ababa. Medical charts of elderlypatients who were admitted to the hospital in the period 01 January 2019 to 01 January 2020were reviewed for polypharmacy. Using an adapted and structured data extraction tool, data wereabstracted on patient characteristics, diseases encountered, co-morbidities, and the type andcategories of the drugs administered. Data were analyzed using SPSS software version 25.Logistic regression was used to assess the association and an odds ratio (OR) with acorresponding 95% confidence interval (CI) was used.
Results: A total of 376 medical charts were reviewed, of which five or more drugs wereprescribed in 180 (47.9%) charts, with a mean of 4.57. This indicated the occurrence ofpolypharmacy in FPRH. In the logistic regression, cardiovascular disease (AOR = 7.456, 95% CI[2.109 - 26.360], p = 0.002) and endocrine disorders (AOR = 7.331, 95% CI [1.988 - 27.043], p = 0.003) showed a significant association with polypharmacy.
Conclusions: Polypharmacy is highly prevalent among elderly patientss admitted to FPRH.Cardiovascular disease, endocrine disorders, andcomorbidity with one to three diseases were themajor predictors of polypharmacy. We recommend that medication practices for elderly patientsneed to be improved through training of clinical practitioners, regular review of patients’medication charts, particularly patients with cardiovascular disease and endocrine disorders, andfurther ingagement of clinical pharmacists in elderly care and treatment.
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Keywords
Elderly patients, polypharmacy, police refferal hospital, cardiovascular disease (CVD), endocrine disorder, Ethiopia.