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International Journal of Clinical Pharmacy

, Volume 40, Issue 2, pp 368–375 | Cite as

Drug-related problems among community-dwelling older adults in mainland China

  • Jiadan Yang
  • Long Meng
  • Yu Liu
  • Liping Lv
  • Shusen Sun
  • Rui Long
  • Xuefeng Shan
  • Jie Song
  • Feng QiuEmail author
Research Article
First Online:
  • 209 Downloads

Abstract

Background Little is known about the extent of drug-related problems (DRPs) in community-dwelling older adult patients with chronic diseases in mainland China. Setting A medication therapy review service at a community health center in Chongqing, China. Objective To identify and categorize DRPs along with pharmacists’ recommendations in addressing the DRPs identified. Method The study was conducted between May 2015 and July 2016. A total of 102 community-dwelling older adults were included. MTR was carried out by clinical pharmacists. DRPs and pharmacotherapy recommendations were recorded and analyzed. Main outcome measure The number of drug-related problems and main problem categories. Results The average age of patients was 69.4 years. Patients took an average of 6.3 medications. A total of 489 DRPs were identified (mean of 4.8 per patient). The most common category was under-treated (27.8%) followed by over- or under-dose (18.8%) and monitoring (17.8%). The number of medications taken was the significant associated factor for DRPs. Pharmacists made 526 recommendations to address the DRPs (mean of 1.1 recommendations per DRP). Primary care providers accepted 68.1% of these recommendations, and implemented 60.9% of them. Conclusion The prevalence of DRPs among studied patient population was high. Pharmacists may play a vital role in addressing the DRPs and optimize pharmacotherapy through MTR service located in community health centers.

Keywords

China Community-dwelling older adults Drug-related problems Medication therapy review Pharmacists 
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Notes

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Ms. Ling Luo, Ms. Yuying Luo, Ms. Li Lin and other nurses/pharmacists for participants’ enrollment and data collection. We also thank Dr. Jia Yang, Dr. Leju Chen and other physicians for referring their patients to our study.

Funding

This project was funded by the Chongqing Science & Technology Commission, Grant Number: cstc2015shmszx0592 and Natural Science Foundation of China, Grant Number: 81603330.

Conflicts of interest

All the authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Copyright information

© Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018

Authors and Affiliations

  • Jiadan Yang
    • 1
  • Long Meng
    • 1
  • Yu Liu
    • 1
  • Liping Lv
    • 2
  • Shusen Sun
    • 3
  • Rui Long
    • 1
  • Xuefeng Shan
    • 1
  • Jie Song
    • 1
  • Feng Qiu
    • 1
    Email author
  1. 1.Department of PharmacyThe First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical UniversityChongqingChina
  2. 2.Community Health Center of Nanshan Street Nanan DistrictChongqingChina
  3. 3.College of Pharmacy and Health SciencesWestern New England UniversitySpringfieldUSA

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