Avaliação do perfil do uso de medicamentos e possíveis interações medicamentosas em idosos residentes na instituição de longa permanência Casa do Idoso Vó Filomena- Cuité/PB.

Abstract

Geriatric patients make constant use of medications due to the greater involvement of chronic-degenerative diseases. The use of drugs by the elderly should be constantly monitored, as risk factors such as compromised physiological functions, the number of drugs used and the proportion of medications contraindicated to geriatric patients can lead to drug problems, such as side effects and drug interactions that may benefit or impair pharmacotherapy. Therefore, drug interaction is characterized as a clinical event in which the effects generated by a drug are altered by the presence of another drug, food, drink or some chemical agent. With the increase of the elderly population in Brazil, there is a significant increase in the Long-Stay Institutions, so it is necessary to evaluate the pharmacotherapy of this population. Thus, the present study had as objective to evaluate the profile of drug use, the existence of potentially inappropriate medications and the presence of potential drug interactions in the pharmacotherapy of the elderly living in the long-stay institution Casa do Idoso Vó Filomena, located in the municipality of Cuité/PB. The data were collected by the researcher in January, 2017. Among the 23 medical records of the elderly residents, 69.57% were of female residents. Twenty-one elderly people used some medication during the study, in a total of 80 drugs, with an average of 3.81 drugs/elderly. Approximately 90% of the elderly used drugs of continuous use. Drugs that act on the central nervous system were the most used among the elderly. Were prescribed 33 drugs considered potentially inappropriate, distributed among 66.66% of the elderly. It was possible to analyze the drug interactions in 16 medical records, which correspond to the elderly who used two or more drugs, so 47.8% of the residents presented some potential interaction, with an average of 3.45 interactions/elderly. Most of the drug interactions presented major severity, about 55%. Regarding the mechanism of action, 45% were pharmacodynamic interactions. It was found that 47.5% of the interactions presented good documentation, and 45% had onset not specified. This study revealed the need to have a pharmacist to evaluate the pharmacotherapy prescribed to the residents, to identify the drug-related problems and to establish measures that minimize their occurrence, thus contributing to the effectiveness of the treatment and improvement in the well-being of these elderly people.