A survey on medications received by elderly persons with dysphagia living at home or in a nursing home.

A survey on medications received by elderly persons with dysphagia living at home or in a nursing home. J Oral Sci. 2020;62(2):239-241 Authors: Matsumura E, Nohara K, Tanaka N, Fujii N, Sakai T Abstract Polypharmacy in elderly persons living at home or in a nursing home is an issue. In the field of dentistry, strategies to reduce polypharmacy must be promoted; however, there is insufficient basic data on medications received by elderly persons with dysphagia living at home or in a nursing home. The subjects were 106 elderly persons with dysphagia living at home or in a nursing home. Based on their medical records, the presence of disease and number/type of drugs being administered were investigated. Stroke, dementia, and hypertension were common. The mean number of drugs per person was 6.3 (minimum: 0, maximum: 15). Drugs for digestive ulcers were the most frequently prescribed medication, followed by hypotensive drugs, anti-parkinsonism drugs, and other central nervous drugs. Fifty-nine patients (52.8%) had taken drugs that may cause dysphagia, and 19 (17.9%) had taken drugs that may cause aspiration. Of the subjects, 68.9% had taken ≥5 drugs, demonstrating polypharmacy in elderly persons with dysphagia living at home or in a nursing home. Many drugs that may cause dysphagia or aspiration had been prescribed, suggesting the importance of dentists' reducing polypharmacy from the viewpoint of swallowing. PMID: 32224575 [PubM...
Source: Journal of oral science - Category: Dentistry Tags: J Oral Sci Source Type: research