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. 2025 Mar 30;17(3):e81485.
doi: 10.7759/cureus.81485. eCollection 2025 Mar.

Identification of the Potential Pharmacotherapeutic Risk in Hospitalized Geriatric Patients

Anna Zupcan Vicena  1 , Hajnalka Komjathy  1 , Jana Urbankova  2 , Tatiana Foltanova  2 , Stanislava Kosirova  2
Affiliations

Identification of the Potential Pharmacotherapeutic Risk in Hospitalized Geriatric Patients

Anna Zupcan Vicena et al. Cureus. .

Abstract

Introduction: Geriatric patients need carefully tailored pharmacotherapeutic approaches to minimize the risks of inappropriate treatment and hospitalizations. In Slovakia, there is a lack of studies documenting the medication use patterns in hospitalized geriatric patients. The primary outcome of our study was to identify potential pharmacotherapeutic risks in hospitalized geriatric patients.

Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of the medical records from 122 patients (65 years and older) hospitalized in the geriatric department. Potential pharmacotherapeutic risk was assessed by identifying potential drug-drug interactions (PDIs) and potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs). PDIs were identified using the Lexicomp® database, and PIMs were evaluated using the EU(7)-PIM list. PDIs were classified into five severity categories: A (unknown), B (minor), C (moderate), D (major), and X (contraindicated). Patients' medication was labeled as "PDIs in the therapy" or "PIMs in the therapy" based on the presence of PDIs or PIMs. If PDIs were identified, the patient was labeled "PDI in therapy"; if PIMs were found, the label "PIMs in the therapy" was applied.

Results: Polypharmacy (61.5%, 75 patients) and hyperpolypharmacy (16.4%, 20 patients) were highly prevalent. PDIs were identified in 80.3% of patients (98 patients). Out of the total 417 PDIs, eight were contraindicated (type X) and 47 were classified as major (type D) interactions. PIMs were used by 73.8% of patients (90 patients), with the most common being pantoprazole (37.7%, 46 patients), alprazolam (27.8%, 34 patients), and digoxin (15.6%, 19 patients). We found a moderate relationship between the number of used drugs and the number of PIMs (ρ = 0.574, R2 = 0.8697, p < 0.001). The mean number of hospitalizations was higher in patients with PDI in therapy (p < 0.001), had a weak relationship with the number of PDIs (p < 0.05), and did not correlate with the number of used drugs or PIMs. Only 6.6% of patients (eight patients) had no potential pharmacotherapeutic risk, while 32% (39 patients) had mild risk (PDIs or PIMs), and 61.5% (75 patients) had high risk (both PDIs and PIMs in the therapy).

Conclusion: Our results underscore the urgent need for medication reviews by hospital pharmacists and the active promotion of drug deprescription among clinicians.

Keywords: drug interactions; eu(7)-pim list; geriatric patients; hospitalizations; pharmacotherapeutic risk; potentially inappropriate medications.

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Conflict of interest statement

Human subjects: Consent for treatment and open access publication was obtained or waived by all participants in this study. The Ethics Committee at the Hospital AGEL Komarno, s.r.o. issued approval 03/07/2024. Ethics approval statement We confirmed that the study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and was approved by the Ethics Committee at the Hospital AGEL Komarno, s.r.o. The Ethics Committee operates according to the ICH GCP 135/95 request and the applicable laws and regulations. Patient consent statement The Ethics Committee at the Hospital AGEL Komarno, s.r.o., has confirmed that informed consent to participate is not required in view of the retrospective nature of the study. All data were anonymized by the institution, and the submission does not include any data that may identify the person. Animal subjects: All authors have confirmed that this study did not involve animal subjects or tissue. Conflicts of interest: In compliance with the ICMJE uniform disclosure form, all authors declare the following: Payment/services info: This project was supported by the INT2016004 scientific research project AGEL. Financial relationships: All authors have declared that they have no financial relationships at present or within the previous three years with any organizations that might have an interest in the submitted work. Other relationships: All authors have declared that there are no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work.

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