MATERIALS AND METHODS: In this retrospective cohort study, data were extracted from the pharmacy database of University Malaya Medical Center (UMMC) responsible for dispensing records of patients stored in the pharmacy's Medication Management and Use System (Ascribe). We analyzed the use of psychotropics in patients from the oncology ward and cardiology from 2008 to 2012. Odds ratios (ORs) were adjusted for age, gender and ethnicity.
RESULTS: A total of 3,345 oncology patients and 8,980 cardiology patients were included. Oncology patients were significantly more often prescribed psychotropic drugs (adjusted OR: anxiolytic/hypnotic=5.55 (CI: 4.64-6.63); antidepressants=6.08 (CI: 4.83-7.64) and antipsychotics=5.41 (CI: 4.17-7.02). Non-Malay female cancer patients were at significantly higher risk of anxiolytic/hypnotic use.
CONCLUSIONS: Psychotropic drugs prescription is common in cancer patients. Anxiolytic/hypnotic prescription rates are significantly higher in non-Malay female patients in Malaysia.
METHODOLOGY: From January 2001 to December 2005, we reviewed case reports of all bacteraemic melioidosis admitted to a tertiary teaching hospital, Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia.
RESULTS: Thirty-five patients had positive blood culture for meliodosis and 27 case reports were traceable for further analysis. The mean age was 46.8 + 20.0 years. Twenty patients (74.1%) were male. The main clinical presentation was fever that occurred in 23 (85.2%) patients. Eighteen patients (66.7%) had lung involvement and three patients had liver abscess. Two patients presented with scrotal swelling, one of whom further developed Fournier's Gangrene. Nineteen (70.4%) patients had underlying diabetes, five of whom were newly diagnosed during the admission. Thirteen (48.1%) patients were treated with high-dose ceftazidime and six (22.2%) patients were treated with imipenem. Eight (29.6%) patients were not given anti-melioidosis therapy because the causative agents were not identified until after the patients died. The patients were admitted 16.8 days + 18.1. Seventeen patients (63.0%) died in this series, 13 patients of whom died within four days of admission.
CONCLUSIONS: The wide range of clinical presentations and the fatal outcomes of melioidosis require a high level of suspicion among physicians to develop an early appropriate therapy and reduce the mortality rate.
METHODS: Participants (n = 202) were aged ≥65 years with two or more falls or one injurious fall in the past year, whereas controls (n = 156) included volunteers aged ≥65 years with no falls in the past year. A detailed medication history was obtained alongside demographic data. Polypharmacy was defined as "regular use of five or more prescription drugs." FRID were identified as cardiovascular agents, central nervous system drugs, analgesics and endocrine drugs; multiple FRID were defined as two or more FRID. Multiple logistic regression analyses were used to adjust for confounders.
RESULTS: The use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs was independently associated with an increased risk of falls. Univariate analyses showed both polypharmacy (OR 2.23, 95% CI 1.39-3.56; P = 0.001) and the use of two or more FRID (OR 2.9, 95% CI 1.9-4.5; P = 0.0001) were significantly more likely amongst fallers. After adjustment for age, sex and comorbidities, blood pressure, and physical performance scores, polypharmacy was no longer associated with falls (OR 1.6, 95% CI 0.9-2.9; P = 0.102), whereas the consumption of two or more FRID remained a significant predictor for falls (OR 2.8, 95% CI 1.4-5.3; P = 0.001).
CONCLUSIONS: Among high risk fallers, the use of two or more FRID was an independent risk factor for falls instead of polypharmacy. Our findings will inform clinical practice in terms of medication reviews among older adults at higher risk of falls. Future intervention studies will seek to confirm whether avoidance or withdrawal of multiple FRID reduces the risk of future falls. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2017; 17: 463-470.