Prescription Habits Related to Chronic Pathologies of Elderly People in Primary Care in the Western Part of Romania: Current Practices, International Recommendations, and Future Perspectives Regarding the Overuse and Misuse of Medicines

Valentina Buda, Andreea Prelipcean, Carmen Cristescu, Alexandru Roja, Olivia Dalleur, Minodora Andor, Corina Danciu, Adriana Ledeti, Cristina Adriana Dehelean and Octavian Cretu
Additional contact information
Valentina Buda: Faculty of Pharmacy, “Victor Babes” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Eftimie Murgu Square, No. 2, 300041 Timisoara, Romania
Andreea Prelipcean: Faculty of Pharmacy, “Victor Babes” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Eftimie Murgu Square, No. 2, 300041 Timisoara, Romania
Carmen Cristescu: Faculty of Pharmacy, “Victor Babes” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Eftimie Murgu Square, No. 2, 300041 Timisoara, Romania
Alexandru Roja: Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, West University of Timisoara, Vasile Parvan Boulevard, No.4, 300223 Timisoara, Romania
Olivia Dalleur: Clinical Pharmacy Research Group, Louvain Drug Research Institute, Universite Catholique de Louvain, E. Mounier Street, No. 81, 1200 Woluwe-Saint-Lambert, Belgium
Minodora Andor: Faculty of Medicine, “Victor Babes” University of Medicine and Pharmacy Eftimie Murgu Square, No. 2, 300041 Timisoara, Romania
Corina Danciu: Faculty of Pharmacy, “Victor Babes” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Eftimie Murgu Square, No. 2, 300041 Timisoara, Romania
Adriana Ledeti: Faculty of Pharmacy, “Victor Babes” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Eftimie Murgu Square, No. 2, 300041 Timisoara, Romania
Cristina Adriana Dehelean: Faculty of Pharmacy, “Victor Babes” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Eftimie Murgu Square, No. 2, 300041 Timisoara, Romania
Octavian Cretu: Faculty of Medicine, “Victor Babes” University of Medicine and Pharmacy Eftimie Murgu Square, No. 2, 300041 Timisoara, Romania

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 13, 1-19

Abstract: The European Commission’s 2019 report regarding the state of health profiles highlighted the fact that Romania is among the countries with the lowest life expectancy in the European Union. Therefore, the objectives of the present study were to assess the current prescription habits of general physicians in Romania related to medicines taken by the elderly population for chronic conditions in both urban and rural setting and to discuss/compare these practices with the current international recommendations for the elderly (American—Beers 2019 criteria and European—STOPP/START v.2, 2015 criteria). A total of 2790 electronic prescriptions for chronic pathologies collected from 18 community pharmacies in the western part of Romania (urban and rural zones) were included. All medicines had been prescribed by general physicians. We identified the following situations of medicine overuse: 15% of the analyzed prescriptions involved the use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) for >2 weeks, 12% involved the use of a proton-pump inhibitor (PPI) for >8 weeks, theophylline was the bronchodilator used as a monotherapy in 3.17% of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease cases, and zopiclone was the hypnotic drug of choice for 2.31% of cases. Regarding the misuse of medicines, 2.33% of analyzed prescriptions contained an angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor and an angiotensin II receptor blocker (ARB) for patients with renal failure in addition to vitamin K antagonists (AVKs) and NSAIDs in 0.43% of cases. Prescriptions for COX2 NSAIDs for periods longer than 2 weeks for patients with cardiovascular disorders accounted for 1.33% of prescriptions, and trihexyphenidyl was used as a monotherapy for patients with Parkinson’s disease in 0.18% of cases. From the included medical prescriptions, 32.40% (the major percent of 2383 prescriptions) had two potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs). Rural zones were found to be risk factor for PIMs. Decreasing the chronic prescription of NSAIDs and PPIs, discontinuing the use of hypnotic drugs, and avoiding potentially harmful drug–drug associations will have long term beneficial effects for Romanian elderly patients.

Keywords: aged people; primary health care; STOPP/START; Beers criteria; medical prescriptions for chronic pathologies; inappropriate prescribing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
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