Korean Journal of Clinical Pharmacy (한국임상약학회지)

Korean College Of Clinical Pharmacy (한국임상약학회)
권호 표지

Prescribing Patterns of Pain Medication in Hospitalized Elderly Patients with Non-Cancer Pain

노인 입원 환자의 비암성 통증에 대한 약물 처방 현황

  • Nam, Ki Nam (Department of Pharmacy, Kangwon National University Hospital) ;
  • Choi, Eun Ok (Department of Pharmacy, Kangwon National University Hospital) ;
  • Kim, Beam Hae (Department of Pharmacy, Kangwon National University Hospital) ;
  • Seong, Sae Ra (College of Pharmacy, Kangwon National University) ;
  • Heo, Yoo Jeong (College of Pharmacy, Kangwon National University) ;
  • Lee, Kyeong Ju (College of Pharmacy, Kangwon National University) ;
  • Lee, Yu Jeung (College of Pharmacy, Kangwon National University)
  • Received : 2015.04.16
  • Accepted : 2015.07.10
  • Published : 2015.09.30
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Abstract

Objective: Pain is very common in the elderly, so there is a high prevalence of analgesic use among this population. The purpose of this study was to assess patterns of analgesic use and evaluate factors associated with analgesic use in elderly patients. Method: The subjects of this study were patients over 65 years old hospitalized in a teaching hospital located in Chuncheon-si, Korea between January 1, 2014 and March 31, 2014. Data collection regarding analgesic prescriptions and baseline characteristics was conducted using computerized hospital database by medical information team. Logistic regression analysis was used to identify factors related to analgesic use. Results: A total of 2,394 patients were finally included. Among these patients, 700 (29.2%) took analgesics; 521 (74.4%) out of these 700 patients were received opioid analgesics and 179 (25.6%) were received only non-opioid analgesics. The most frequently prescribed opioid analgesic was pethidine (45.7%), and the most frequently prescribed non-opioid analgesic was acetaminophen (44.1%). Fracture was associated with increased odds of opioid analgesic prescriptions (OR = 2.766, 95% CI = 2.019-3.790, p < 0.001) and any analgesic prescriptions (OR = 2.394, 95% CI = 1.766-3.244, p < 0.001). Stroke or cerebral infarction was associated with decreased odds of opioid analgesic prescriptions (OR = 0.636, 95% CI = 0.471-0.858, p = 0.003). Conclusion: A significant proportion of hospitalized elderly patients use analgesics. Health care professionals should consider factors associated with analgesic use in this population to improve pain management.

Keywords

References

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