How are drug regimen changes during hospitalisation handled after discharge: a cohort study.

Objectives: To investigate drug regimen changes during hospitalisation and explore how these changes are handled after patients are transferred back into the care of their general practitioners (GPs).

Design: Cohort study.

Setting: Patients in this multicentre study had undergone at least one change in their drug regimens at discharge from the general medicine departments at six hospitals in Norway.

Handling drug-related problems in rehabilitation patients: a randomized study.

Background: Drug-related problems (DRPs) have been found to be associated with increased morbidity, mortality, and health costs.

Objective: To investigate whether the inclusion of pharmacists in a rehabilitation team influences the handling of DRPs in the ward and whether an intervention in hospital affects drug use after discharge.

Setting: The rehabilitation ward of a general hospital in Oslo, Norway.

Mortality after myocardial infarction: impact of gender and smoking status.

We have shown previously that smoking causes a first myocardial infarction (MI) to occur significantly more prematurely in women than in men. The aim of the study was to investigate mortality after MI with special emphasis on the impact of smoking and gender. The study included 2,281 consecutive patients (36.

Drugs with narrow therapeutic index as indicators in the risk management of hospitalised patients.

Unlabelled: Drugs with narrow therapeutic index (NTI-drugs) are drugs with small differences between therapeutic and toxic doses. The pattern of drug-related problems (DRPs) associated with these drugs has not been explored.

Objective: To investigate how, and to what extent drugs, with a narrow therapeutic index (NTI-drugs), as compared with other drugs, relate to different types of drug-related problems (DRPs) in hospitalised patients.

Health-related quality of life after myocardial infarction is associated with level of left ventricular ejection fraction.

Background: The objective was to explore the relationship between left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) assessed during hospitalization for acute myocardial infarction (MI) and later health-related quality of life (HRQoL).

Methods: We used multivariable linear regression to assess the relationship between LVEF and HRQoL in 256 MI patients who responded to the Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire (KCCQ), the EQ-5D Index, and the EuroQol Visual Analogue Scale (EQ-VAS) 2.5 years after the index MI.

Risk of drug-related problems for various antibiotics in hospital: assessment by use of a novel method.

Purpose: To investigate the use of antibiotics in hospitals, to explore drug-related problems (DRPs) linked to antibiotics and to introduce a novel way of expressing the risks accompanying use of various antibiotics.

Methods: Patients from internal medicine departments in four Norwegian hospitals were prospectively included in 2002. Demographics, drugs used, medical history, laboratory data and clinical/pharmacological risk factors were recorded.

Understanding sex differences in health-related quality of life following myocardial infarction.

Background: The role of sex differences in health-related quality of life (HRQoL) after myocardial infarction (MI) remains controversial.

Methods: In total 408 Norwegian patients completed the Short Form 36 (SF-36) questionnaire 2.5 years after MI.

High mortality in diabetic patients with acute myocardial infarction: cardiovascular co-morbidities contribute most to the high risk.

Background: High mortality rates have been reported in diabetic patients after acute myocardial infarction (AMI). The excess mortality has been attributed to the diabetic state itself. We aimed to investigate how other risk factors along with diabetes per se may predict mortality in an unselected AMI population.

Polypharmacy as commonly defined is an indicator of limited value in the assessment of drug-related problems.

Aim: To investigate whether polypharmacy defined as a definite number of drugs is a suitable indicator for describing the risk of occurrence of drug-related problems (DRPs) in a hospital setting.

Methods: Patients admitted to six internal medicine and two rheumatology departments in five hospitals were consecutively included and followed during the hospital stay, with particular attention to medication and DRPs. Comparisons were made between patients admitted with five or more drugs and with less than five drugs.

Use of renal risk drugs in hospitalized patients with impaired renal function--an underestimated problem?

Background: Inappropriate use of drugs in patients with renal impairment (RI) may be harmful and may have deleterious effects. We aimed to investigate the use of renal risk drugs in such patients in general hospitals and to analyse the relationship to demographic factors, risk factors and occurrence of drug-related problems (DRPs).

Methods: Patients admitted to departments of internal medicine and rheumatology in five general hospitals were included.

Interview of patients by pharmacists contributes significantly to the identification of drug-related problems (DRPs).

Purpose: To investigate whether pharmacist interviews of hospitalised patients about their medication would result in identification of more drug-related problems (DRPs) than those found by usual care procedures and further to characterise the DRPs revealed at the interviews.

Methods: Patients from five internal medicine and two rheumatology departments in four hospitals in Norway were prospectively included in the study. Clinical pharmacists assessed DRPs by reviewing medical records and by participating in multidisciplinary team discussions.

Reliability and validity of the Norwegian translation of the Seattle Angina Questionnaire following myocardial infarction.

The aim of this study was to validate the Norwegian version of the Seattle Angina Questionnaire (SAQ), a self-administered 19-item questionnaire designed to assess health-related quality of life in patients with chest pain or coronary artery disease. In 885 patients with prior myocardial infarction (MI), we abstracted clinical data from the patients' medical records. Two to three years after the MI, we mailed a self-administered questionnaire including the SAQ, the Short Form 36 (SF-36), and questions about current medication, to the 548 patients still alive.

Reliability and validity of the Kansas City cardiomyopathy questionnaire in patients with previous myocardial infarction.

Background: The Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire (KCCQ) is a recently developed disease-specific instrument for measuring health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) regardless of aetiology.

Aim: To assess the reliability and validity of the KCCQ in patients with previous myocardial infarction (MI).

Methods And Results: In 754 myocardial infarction patients who were discharged alive, we collected clinical data from the patients' medical records.

Comparison of drug-related problems in different patient groups.

Background: There is a lack of knowledge concerning how drug-related problems (DRPs) vary in different patient groups. Possible dissimilarities need to be taken into consideration when guidelines for detecting and preventing DRPs are compiled.

Objective: To characterize and compare the frequency and categories of DRPs in different groups of hospitalized patients.

The problem of underdosing of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors is markedly overrated: results from a study of patients discharged from hospital after an acute myocardial infarction.

Objective: The use of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors has increased markedly during the last decade. It has been claimed that doses of ACE inhibitors prescribed in clinical practice are considerably lower than the target doses used in randomized clinical trials. The aim of the study was to investigate dosing of ACE inhibitors in patients discharged from the hospital after an acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and, furthermore, to compare these doses with the doses actually reached in clinical trials.

Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor therapy after myocardial infarction in relation to left ventricular function.

Objective: To investigate to what extent and by what methods clinicians assess left ventricular (LV) function after an acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and how the results of the assessments relate to the use of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors; furthermore, to explore which main indications caused the clinicians to initiate ACE inhibitor therapy.

Design: From 16 hospitals we drew a sample of patients who were discharged with the diagnosis of AMI during a 3-month period in 1999/2000. Physicians in each hospital obtained the observed rate of use of cardiovascular drugs at discharge and also information on ejection fraction (EF) measurements.