IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v17y2020i11p4017-d367643.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Prescribing Analgesics to Older People: A Challenge for GPs

Author

Listed:
  • Ljiljana Trtica Majnarić

    (Department of Internal Medicine, Family Medicine and the History of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University Josip Juraj Strossmayer, 31000 Osijek, Croatia
    Department of Public Health, Faculty of Dental Medicine, University Josip Juraj Strossmayer, 31000 Osijek, Croatia)

  • Thomas Wittlinger

    (Department of Cardiology, Asklepios Hospital, 38642 Goslar, Germany)

  • Dunja Stolnik

    (Family Medicine Practice, Health Center Osijek, 31000 Osijek, Croatia)

  • František Babič

    (Department of Cybernetics and Artificial Intelligence, Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Informatics, Technical University of Košice, 04201 Košice, Slovak Republic)

  • Zvonimir Bosnić

    (Department of Public Health, Faculty of Dental Medicine, University Josip Juraj Strossmayer, 31000 Osijek, Croatia)

  • Stjepan Rudan

    (Department of Public Health, Faculty of Dental Medicine, University Josip Juraj Strossmayer, 31000 Osijek, Croatia)

Abstract

Background: Due to population aging, there is an increase in the prevalence of chronic diseases, and in particular musculoskeletal diseases. These trends are associated with an increased demand for prescription analgesics and an increased risk of polypharmacy and adverse medication reactions, which constitutes a challenge, especially for general practitioners (GPs), as the providers who are most responsible for the prescription policy. Objectives: To identify patterns of analgesics prescription for older people in the study area and explore associations between a long-term analgesic prescription and comorbidity patterns, as well as the prescription of psychotropic and other common medications in a continuous use. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted in 2015 in eastern Croatia. Patients were GP attenders ≥40 years old ( N = 675), who were recruited during their appointments (consecutive patients). They were divided into two groups: those who have been continuously prescribed analgesics ( N = 432) and those who have not ( N = 243). Data from electronic health records were used to provide information about diagnoses of musculoskeletal and other chronic diseases, as well as prescription rates for analgesics and other medications. Exploratory methods and logistic regression models were used to analyse the data. Results: Analgesics have been continuously prescribed to 64% of the patients, mostly to those in the older age groups (50–79 years) and females, and they were indicated mainly for dorsalgia symptoms and arthrosis. Non-opioid analgesics were most common, with an increasing tendency to prescribe opioid analgesics to older patient groups aged 60–79 years. The study results indicate that there is a high rate of simultaneous prescription of analgesics and psychotropic medications, despite the intention of GPs to avoid prescribing psychotropic medications to patients who use any option with opioid analgesics. In general, receiving prescription analgesics does not exceed the prescription for chronic diseases over the rates that can be found in patients who do not receive prescription analgesics. Conclusion: Based on the analysis of comorbidities and parallel prescribing, the results of this study can improve GPs’ prescription and treatment strategies for musculoskeletal diseases and chronic pain conditions.

Suggested Citation

  • Ljiljana Trtica Majnarić & Thomas Wittlinger & Dunja Stolnik & František Babič & Zvonimir Bosnić & Stjepan Rudan, 2020. "Prescribing Analgesics to Older People: A Challenge for GPs," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(11), pages 1-17, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:11:p:4017-:d:367643
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/11/4017/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/11/4017/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Campbell, C.I. & Weisner, C. & LeResche, L. & Ray, G.T. & Saunders, K. & Sullivan, M.D. & Banta-Green, C.J. & Merrill, J.O. & Silverberg, M.J. & Boudreau, D. & Satre, D.D. & Von Korff, M., 2010. "Age and gender trends in long-term opioid analgesic use for noncancer pain," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 100(12), pages 2541-2547.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Katarzyna Karłowicz-Bodalska & Natalia Sauer & Laura Jonderko & Anna Wiela-Hojeńska, 2023. "Over the Counter Pain Medications Used by Adults: A Need for Pharmacist Intervention," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(5), pages 1-10, March.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Padmaja Ayyagari, 2016. "Prescription drug coverage and chronic pain," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 16(2), pages 189-200, June.
    2. Yang, Tse-Chuan & Shoff, Carla & Kim, Seulki, 2022. "Social isolation, residential stability, and opioid use disorder among older Medicare beneficiaries: Metropolitan and non-metropolitan county comparison," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 292(C).
    3. Alice Fiddian-Green & Aline Gubrium & Calla Harrington & Elizabeth A. Evans, 2022. "Women-Reported Barriers and Facilitators of Continued Engagement with Medications for Opioid Use Disorder," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(15), pages 1-17, July.
    4. Jianan Zhao & Yun Chen & Ting Han & Stephen Westland, 2020. "Designing Effective Warnings about Addiction on the Patient Information Leaflet of Over-the-Counter Codeine Sold in England to University Students," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(15), pages 1-17, July.
    5. Valentina Orlando & Sara Mucherino & Ilaria Guarino & Francesca Guerriero & Ugo Trama & Enrica Menditto, 2020. "Gender Differences in Medication Use: A Drug Utilization Study Based on Real World Data," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(11), pages 1-10, June.
    6. Jessica Y. Ho, 2020. "Cycles of Gender Convergence and Divergence in Drug Overdose Mortality," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 46(3), pages 443-470, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:11:p:4017-:d:367643. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.