Adverse drug reactions among an elderly hospitalized population

Nesta pesquisa foram avaliados 186 idosos hospitalizados quanto ao aparecimento de reações adversas a medicamentos (RAM). Encontrou-se 199 RAM (1,07 por paciente). Para 11,3% dos idosos a RAM constituiu a causa da internação, para 17,2% estava presente à internação mas não como causa e 46,2% apresentaram RAM durante a hospitalização. As RAM sérias mais comuns foram a insuficiência renal aguda, a hipercalemia e a hipotensão postural. Concluiu-se que houve uma prevalência importante de RAM nesses pacientes, encontrando-se como fatores de risco significativos o número de diagnósticos, o número de medicamentos e o uso de medicamento inapropriado para idososThe present study evaluated the prevalence of adverse drug reactions (ADR) among 186 hospitalized elderly. A total of 199 ADR were founded (1.07 per patient). For 11.3% of the patients the ADR was the cause of hospitalization, for 17.2% the ADR was present at hospitalization but not as the cause and for 46.2% it was presented during hospitalization. The most common serious ADR were acute renal insufficiency, hyperkalemia and postural hypotension. We concluded that a significant prevalence of ADR was found among that patients, with the number of diagnosis, the number of drugs and the use of a drug considered to be inappropriate as risk factor