2024 Volume 7 Issue 2 Pages 40-46
Background: Issues concerning polypharmacy and intervention methods according to specialized fields require investigation. The aim of the present study was to investigate the situation surrounding drug use in neurology and compare it with other fields.
Methods: We targeted inpatients in the neurology ward of national center of neurology and psychiatry in Japan and compare with other wards of national center in Japan from September 1 to November 30, 2021, and surveyed issues concerning polypharmacy.
Results: We enrolled 113 participants with an age of 66 (54-75) years. Neurology tends to have a higher number of oral medications used (9, 6-11, p < 0.01) and more frequent doses per day (4, 3-5, p < 0.01) with other fields. The most common diseases upon hospitalization are Parkinson’s disease (31.9%) and multiple system atrophy (14.2%). Of all participants, 70.8% have designated intractable diseases. Levodopa and carbidopa hydrate (38.9%) are the most commonly used drugs, followed by magnesium oxide (25.7%) and clonazepam (21.2%). This indicates that the medications for Parkinson’s disease are the most commonly used drugs in neurology. Further, the most frequent subjective symptoms are dizziness/lightheadedness (29.2%, p＝0.15), falls (23.9%, p < 0.01), and dysphagia (21.2%, p < 0.01).
Conclusions: This study clarified matters concerning the situation of drug use and polypharmacy in the field of neurology; as such, this will be useful when examining intervention methods according to specialized fields. We intend to use the results of this study as a reference for resolving issues concerning polypharmacy and performing safe and appropriate pharmaceutical interventions.
