Koh Yvonne, Fatimah Bte Moideen Kutti, Li Shu Chuen
Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Science, National University of Singapore, 18 Science Drive 4, Singapore 117543, Republic of Singapore.
Pharm World Sci. 2003 Aug;25(4):135-7. doi: 10.1023/a:1024896328720.
To estimate the incidence of drug-related problems (DRPs)-associated hospital admission, and its correlation to polypharmacy and age.
A retrospective, cross-sectional study in in-patients on polypharmacy in Singapore. Significant differences (P < 0.05) between number of medications taken and age of patients were tested with the chi-square test.
The study population consisted of 347 patients (aged 16-97) on a mean of 7.4 +/- 2.1 medications. 10.8% of the study population had DRPs on admission: 71.9% of which were dominant reasons for admission, and DRPs contributed partly in the remaining cases. These DRPs were mostly avoidable, and can be broadly classified into non-compliance, adverse drug reactions, require synergistic therapy, inappropriate dose and untreated condition. 52% of these cases were made up of geriatric patients. No statistical difference was found between patients on polypharmacy and those on major polypharmacy (10 and more drugs) in having a DRP.
In this study, DRPs contributing to hospital admission appeared to be avoidable. Geriatrics were more susceptible to DRPs and future efforts are required in managing medications prescribed for these patients to reduce such incidences.
评估与药物相关问题（DRP）相关的住院发生率及其与多重用药和年龄的相关性。
对新加坡多重用药的住院患者进行一项回顾性横断面研究。采用卡方检验对用药数量与患者年龄之间的显著差异（P < 0.05）进行检验。
研究人群包括347例患者（年龄16 - 97岁），平均用药7.4 ± 2.1种。10.8%的研究人群入院时存在DRP：其中71.9%是入院的主要原因，其余病例中DRP为部分原因。这些DRP大多是可避免的，大致可分为用药依从性差、药物不良反应、需要协同治疗、剂量不当和病情未治疗。这些病例中有52%为老年患者。多重用药患者与大量多重用药（10种及以上药物）患者在发生DRP方面未发现统计学差异。
在本研究中，导致住院的DRP似乎是可避免的。老年人更容易发生DRP，未来需要努力管理为这些患者开具的药物，以降低此类发生率。
