OBJECTIVE: This systematic review sought to identify DRPs due to medication misadventures, including adverse drug reactions (ADRs), and use of inappropriate medications, among patients with dementia or cognitive impairments.
METHODS: The included studies were retrieved from the electronic databases PubMed and SCOPUS, and a preprint platform (MedRXiv) which were searched from their inception through August 2022. The English-language publications that reported DRPs among dementia patients were included. The JBI Critical Appraisal Tool for quality assessment was used to evaluate the quality of studies included in the review.
RESULTS: Overall, 746 distinct articles were identified. Fifteen studies met the inclusion criteria and reported the most common DRPs, which comprised medication misadventures (n = 9), such as ADRs, inappropriate prescription use, and potentially inappropriate medication use (n = 6).
CONCLUSION: This systematic review provides evidence that DRPs are prevalent among dementia patients, particularly the older people. It indicates that medication misadventures such as ADRs and inappropriate drug use, as well as potentially inappropriate medications, are the most prevalent DRPs among older people with dementia. Due to the small number of included studies, however, additional studies are required to improve comprehension about the issue.
METHODS: A total of 901 Malaysian adults (≥18 years) who received various COVID-19 vaccines were selected to participate in our cross-sectional study through an online survey between December 2021 and January 2022.
RESULTS: A total of 814 (90.3%) of the participants reported ≥1 side effect following COVID-19 immunisation. Of these, the predominant symptoms were swelling at the injection site (n = 752, 83.5%), headache (n = 638, 70.8%), pain or soreness at the injection site (n = 628, 69.7%), fatigue or tiredness (n = 544, 60.4%), muscle weakness (n = 529, 58.7%) and diarrhea (n = 451, 50.1%). Recipients of the Pfizer-BioNTech (Comirnaty ®) vaccine reported the highest number of adverse effects (n = 355, 43.6%), followed by mixed COVID-19 vaccines (n = 254, 31.2%), the Oxford-AstraZeneca (ChAdOx1-®[recombinant]) vaccine (n = 113, 13.9%) and the Sinovac (CoronaVac®) vaccine (n = 90, 11.1%). The study showed that individuals who reported significantly more side effects were of elderly age, female gender and high educational level [P value