Pilotto Alberto, Franceschi Marilisa, Vitale Dino, Zaninelli Augusto, Masotti Giulio, Rengo Franco
Geriatric Unit, Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza, IRCCS, 71013, San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy.
Eur J Clin Pharmacol. 2006 Jan;62(1):65-73. doi: 10.1007/s00228-005-0027-5. Epub 2005 Dec 30.
To evaluate the prevalence of drug use by elderly outpatients in Italy and to identify the association between drug use and gastrointestinal symptoms.
The study was carried out by 133 general practitioners (GPs) who referred to 24 geriatric units in Italy. All consenting elderly patients seen at the GPs' offices were evaluated for gender, age, disability, current medications, and upper gastrointestinal symptoms.
The study included 5,515 elderly subjects. The prevalence of drug use was 91.6%, and the mean number of drugs taken was 2.86 per person. Both the prevalence and the mean number of drugs significantly increased with advancing age. Regarding gastrointestinal symptoms, 32.7% of patients reported at least one upper gastrointestinal symptom: 25% with indigestion syndrome, 16.2% with abdominal pain, and 14.2% with reflux symptoms. A significantly higher prevalence of symptoms was observed in females, patients who were taking a higher number of drugs, and those who had higher disability. Adjusted multivariate analysis demonstrated that the use of nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs, steroids, psycholeptics, diuretics, selective beta2 adrenoreceptor agonists or adrenergics, and antiplatelet drugs was significantly associated with upper gastrointestinal symptoms.
The prevalence of drug use is very high in this elderly outpatient population. The number of drugs and the use of some specific drug classes are significantly associated with the presence of upper gastrointestinal symptoms.
评估意大利老年门诊患者的药物使用情况，并确定药物使用与胃肠道症状之间的关联。
该研究由133名全科医生开展，这些医生来自意大利的24个老年病科。所有在全科医生办公室就诊并同意参与研究的老年患者均接受了性别、年龄、残疾状况、当前用药情况以及上消化道症状的评估。
该研究纳入了5515名老年受试者。药物使用率为91.6%，人均用药数量为2.86种。药物使用率和人均用药数量均随年龄增长而显著增加。关于胃肠道症状，32.7%的患者报告至少有一种上消化道症状：25%患有消化不良综合征，16.2%患有腹痛，14.2%患有反流症状。在女性、用药数量较多的患者以及残疾程度较高的患者中，症状的发生率显著更高。校正后的多变量分析表明，使用非甾体抗炎药、类固醇、抗精神病药、利尿剂、选择性β2肾上腺素能受体激动剂或肾上腺素能药物以及抗血小板药物与上消化道症状显著相关。
在这个老年门诊人群中，药物使用率非常高。用药数量以及某些特定药物类别的使用与上消化道症状的存在显著相关。
