Urinary Retention and Medication Utilization on a Palliative Care Unit: A Retrospective Observational Study.

Urinary Retention and Medication Utilization on a Palliative Care Unit: A Retrospective Observational Study. J Pain Palliat Care Pharmacother. 2018 Jan 16;:1-6 Authors: Bergstra TG, Gutmanis I, Byrne J, Faulds C, Whitfield P, McCallum S, Shadd J Abstract Urinary retention is a common problem at end-of-life that may be a result of medications used to control other symptoms. To determine whether use of retention-causing drugs was associated with catheterization for urinary retention among palliative care unit (PCU) patients, the authors reviewed charts of 91 consecutively admitted patients to a hospital-based PCU. Utilization of eight classes of retention-causing medications (opioids, antidopaminergics, benzodiazepines, anticholinergics, antidepressants, calcium channel antagonists, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs [NSAIDs], and H1 histamine antagonists) was compared between those catheterized for urinary retention (n = 34) and those never catheterized (n = 31). All patients used medication from more than one class of retention-causing medication. A statistically significant association with urinary retention occurred for antidopaminergic medications, but not other drug classes. The total number of classes of retention-causing medications was not associated with catheterization. These findings question whether urinary retention need hinder medication use for symptom management at end-of-life. Tapering of antidopaminergic medication...
Source: Journal of Pain and Palliative Care Pharmacotherapy - Category: Palliative Care Tags: J Pain Palliat Care Pharmacother Source Type: research