Sedative Load among Community-Dwelling People Aged 75 Years and Older
- PDF / 180,271 Bytes
- 13 Pages / 504 x 720 pts Page_size
- 16 Downloads / 161 Views
Drugs Aging 2011; 28 (11): 913-925 1170-229X/11/0011-0913/$49.95/0
ª 2011 Adis Data Information BV. All rights reserved.
Sedative Load among Community-Dwelling People Aged 75 Years and Older A Population-Based Study Heidi T. Taipale,1,2 J. Simon Bell,1,2,3 Maija Uusi-Kokko,1,2 Eija Lo¨nnroos,1,4 Raimo Sulkava4,5 and Sirpa Hartikainen1,2,6 1 Kuopio Research Centre of Geriatric Care, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland 2 Clinical Pharmacology and Geriatric Pharmacotherapy Unit, School of Pharmacy, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland 3 Quality Use of Medicines and Pharmacy Research Centre, Sansom Institute, University of South Australia, Adelaide, SA, Australia 4 Institute of Public Health and Clinical Nutrition, Department of Geriatrics, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland 5 Department of Neurology, Kuopio University Hospital, Kuopio, Finland 6 Leppa¨virta Health Centre, Leppa¨virta, Finland
Abstract
Background: Drugs with sedative properties are among the most widely used drugs in community-dwelling older people. Use of sedative drugs has been associated with falls and fractures, cognitive and memory impairment and impaired physical function among older people. The sedative load model has been developed to quantify the cumulative effect of taking multiple drugs with sedative properties. Objective: The objective of the study was to investigate factors associated with sedative load among community-dwelling older people, using data collected as part of the Finnish Geriatric Multidisciplinary Strategy for the Good Care of the Elderly (GeMS) study. Methods: The GeMS study was a randomized, comparative study that evaluated a model for geriatric assessment, care and rehabilitation using a study sample of 1000 persons aged ‡75 years who were living in Kuopio, Finland. Of these, 700 people consented to participate and were community-dwelling. Demographic, diagnostic and drug use data (both regular and when-required drugs) were elicited during nurse interviews. For the current analysis, sedative load was computed using a previously published model, in which drugs taken on a regular and when-required basis were classified into one of four groups according to their sedative potential. Group 1 included primary sedatives (sedative rating 2) and group 2 included drugs with sedation as a prominent side effect (sedative rating 1). Each participant’s sedative load was calculated
Taipale et al.
914
by summing the sedative ratings of group 1 and 2 drugs. Logistic regression models were used to investigate factors associated with sedative load. Results: Twenty-nine percent of participants (n = 205) had a sedative load of ‡1 (i.e. used one or more drugs with sedative properties), and 22% (n = 158) had a sedative load of ‡2 (i.e. used either one primary sedative or two drugs with sedation as a prominent adverse effect or preparations with a sedating component) when considering regularly used drugs. A sedative load of ‡2 that related to regular
Data Loading...
