COMPARISON OF POLYPHARMACY BETWEEN GERIATRIC AND NONGERIATRIC DIABETIC PATIENTS

Rajeshwari Shastry*, Prabha Adhikari MR, Ullal Sheetal D, Shashidhar Kotian M

Geriatric diabetics have comorbidities, requiring multiple drugs. This study was conducted to compare polypharmacy between geriatric and nongeriatric diabetics. Cross sectional study conducted in type 2 diabetics, grouped into geriatric and nongeriatric. Patients’ demographic data, duration of diabetes and drugs prescribed were recorded. Polypharmacy was defined as five drugs or more per prescription. Students’ t test and Chi square test were the statistical tests. A total of 477 diabetics were included (geriatrics n=320, nongeriatrics n=157); mean ages were 68.31±6.06 and 49.91±6.93 respectively. Comorbidities observed were hypertension, coronary artery disease (CAD), dyslipidemia, peripheral neuropathy, retinopathy, nephropathy and hypothyroidism. Significantly more geriatrics had hypertension (78.75% versus 53.5%) and CAD (31.25% versus 13.37%; p=0.0001). Polypharmacy was noted in 133 (41.6%) geriatrics and 40 (25.5%) nongeriatrics (p=0.0009). Total number of drugs per prescription among geriatrics and nongeriatrics was 4.32±2.01 vs 3.39±1.92; p<0.001. Mean number of drugs for diabetes and hypertension were equal among both groups. However, polypharmacy was more in geriatric diabetics, which is due to high prevalence of CAD.