title: Polypharmacy among the elderly in the Republic of Srpska: extent and implications for the future.
abstract: The prescribing of medicines is a fundamental component of care for the elderly; however, there is increasing concern with polypharmacy and its impact on morbidity, mortality and costs. As a result, long-term prescription-medicine use and the prevalence of polypharmacy in the elderly in the Republic of Srpska were analyzed. The findings were subsequently used to suggest potential future measures. A retrospective study of all elderly patients during 2005-2010 stratified by age group (three groups), sex and long-term medicine use was performed. Polypharmacy (five or more medicines) increased from 1.4% of the elderly taking medicines long-term to 3.6% by 2010, with 53.6% of elderly taking two or more medicines long-term. The most prevalent diseases were cardiovascular diseases and diabetes. Most prescriptions were in accordance with recent guidelines; however, there was a concern with appreciable prescribing of digoxin and aminophylline. Whilst polypharmacy rates are low in the Republic, the increasing rate is a concern. Further studies are planned.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Pharmacy , Ministry of Health and Social Welfare , Banja Luka , Republic of Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina.|b Medical Faculty, Department of Social Pharmacy , University Banja Luka , Banja Luka , Republic of Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
authors.forename: Vanda
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Marković-Peković
authors.affiliation: c Medical Faculty, Department of Clinical Pharmacology , University Banja Luka , Banja Luka , Republic of Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
authors.forename: Ranko
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Škrbić
authors.affiliation: d Računari , Banja Luka , Republic of Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
authors.forename: Aleksandar
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Petrović
authors.affiliation: e Department of Clinical Pharmacology , University Hospital, Rijeka , Rijeka , Croatia.
authors.forename: Vera
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Vlahović-Palčevski
authors.affiliation: f Control Department , Health Insurance Institute of Slovenia , Ljubljana , Slovenia.
authors.forename: Jana
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mrak
authors.affiliation: g Public Health and Intelligence Strategic Business Unit , NHS National Services Scotland , Edinburgh , Scotland.|h Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences , University of Strathclyde , Glasgow , UK.
authors.forename: Marion
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bennie
authors.affiliation: i Departments of Pharmacology/Medicine , Ekiti State University/Ekiti State University Teaching Hospital , Ado-Ekiti , Nigeria.
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fadare
authors.affiliation: j Department of Global Health and Population , Harvard School of Public Health , Boston , MA , USA.|k Institute of Health and Environment, Graduate School of Public Health , Seoul National University , Seoul , South Korea.
authors.forename: Hye-Young
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Kwon
authors.affiliation: l Institute of Health Policy and Management, Erasmus University , Rotterdam , The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Krijn
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Schiffers
authors.affiliation: m Drug Utilization Research Unit (DURU), Department of Pharmacy , Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University , Port Elizabeth , South Africa.
authors.forename: Ilse
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Truter
authors.affiliation: h Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences , University of Strathclyde , Glasgow , UK.|n Department of Laboratory Medicine, Division of Clinical Pharmacology, Karolinska Institutet , Karolinska University Hospital Huddinge , Stockholm , Sweden.
authors.forename: Brian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Godman
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D017522:Bosnia and Herzegovina; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019338:Polypharmacy; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000592:standards*; D055553:Prescription Drugs / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D055553:Prescription Drugs
keywords: Polypharmacy; Republic of Srpska; cardiovascular disease; drug utilisation; guidelines