Anti Diabetic Drug Utilization by Elderly Patients in a Tertiary Hospital in Western Nigeria

Abstract

This study is intended to determine the pattern and rational use of drugs in the elderly diabetic patients in a tertiary health care facility in Western Nigeria. This was a retrospective study involving 173 case files of elderly diabetic patients treated in the Endocrinology Clinic of Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital (OOUTH) between January 2010 and December 2011 which were assessed for relevant data including sociodemographic characteristics, clinical information, pattern of prescribed medications, number of drugs per prescription encountered by patients etc. The primary outcome was the pattern of drug use while the secondary outcome was inappropriate use of drugs. Diabetes prevalence was higher in females (64.1%) than in males in the facility. About 95% of the total patients were treated for diabetes type 2, 46.8% were obese while 86.6% were living with FBS >126 mg/dl. Hypertension (87.3%) was the commonest comorbidity. The range, 2-3 drugs per prescription was mostly encountered for patients aged 50-59 years, while 4-5 drugs per prescription was most common among patients older than 65 years. Metformin was the most commonly prescribed antidiabetic medication for the patients followed by glimepiride (52.8%) (highest within age 50-59 years) and then pioglitazone (48.7%) (also highest within age group >65 years old), while the most commonly prescribed antihypertensive was angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors (32.4%). The most commonly prescribed potentially inappropriate medication was aspirin (54.9%) with its preponderance in age group 60-65 years (61.4%) followed by pioglitazone (43.4%) with preponderance in age group >65years (48.7%).

Key words: Diabetes, elderly, prescription pattern, potentially inappropriate medications