prevalence of polypharmacy in elderly cardiac patients at king fahad cardiac center kfcc in king khalid university hospital kkuh- riyadh saudi arabia

Research Article
Mohamed N. Al-Arifi*, Hessa Othman Al-Husein**, Mostafa Q. Al Shamiri**, Ragab Said*, Syed Wajid *, Salmeen D. Babelghaith*
DOI: 
xxx-xxxx-xxx
Subject: 
Medical
KeyWords: 
Cardiac inpatients, Medications, Polypharmacy, Prevalence
Abstract: 

Polypharmacy was defined as a taking more than 4 medications per single patients (minor polypharmacy), patients who are taking more than 10 medications we considered as a major polypharmacy. This study was aimed to evaluate the prevalence of polypharmacy in elderly Saudi cardiac patient. A retrospective observational study was carried out at the department of CCU & cardiology unit of the King Fahad cardiac centre (KFCC) in King Khalid university hospital from May, 2012 to October, 2012. All Parameters was analyzed by using Statistical Packages for Social Science (SPSS) to conclude the result; Tests of association were performed using the chi-square statistic. The mean age of patients was 70.1 ± 7.75 years, more than half 83 (51.6%) were males. The highest frequency of chronic diseases found were hypertension (91.0%) followed by, dyslipidemia (74.9%), and diabetes mellitus. Results shown that 82% had polypharmacy (>4 drugs) during the study period, and 47.9% had major polypharmacy. The incidence of inappropriate drug use was found to be higher with men than female (p = 0.984). In conclusion this study revealed that high prevalence of polypharmacy and potentially inappropriate medications in elderly Saudi cardiac inpatients