PSYCHOLOGICAL HEALTH IN ELDERLY HOSPITALIZED PATIENTS WITH AND WITHOUT THE STOPP-START CRITERIA OF INAPPROPRIATE MEDICATIONS

ANA VIRGINIA FAJRELDINES; BELÉN MESURADO

Advances in Psychology Research. Volume 109

Nova Science Publishers

Año: 2015; p. 115 - 124

Inappropriate medication in elderly patients is still a common concern on global health. Inappropriate medication has to do with clinical relevance due to the medication toxic effects and the loss of life quality which affects this highly vulnerable population of patients. The elderly hospitalized patient?s psychological well-being has been poorly studied in literature. There are different tools to measure inappropriate prescription, one of them are the explicit STOPP-START criteria. Purposes: 1. Describe the population of a Private Hospital in Argentina with the positive and negative STOPP-START criteria. 2. Characterize the psychological health levels on patients with positive and negative STOPP-START criteria. Material and Methods: a hospitalized patient?s cross-sectional study at a University Teaching Hospital in Argentina. Results: a PIM prevalence of 47, 5 % with the STOPP, and 13, 4% with the START was observed. Lower means in perceived happiness levels on patients with positive STOPP than negative ones were found. Patients with positive and negative STOPP did not show significant difference in carrying out the tasks of daily life. Patients with positive STOPP would be more vulnerable to delirium and anxiety episodes. The only topics regarding START where some significant differences were found in positive and negative START population was in the carrying out of daily activities and some anxiety episodes, the remaining ones were not really significant (perceived happiness and delirium episodes).