Factors Facilitating and Hindering Development of a Medication Use Review Service in Eastern Europe and Iran-Cross-Sectional Exploratory Study.

Polypharmacy is a common issue in patients with chronic diseases. Eastern-European countries and Iran are exploring possibilities for implementing the Medication Use Review (MUR) as a measure for optimizing medication use and ensuring medication safety in polypharmacy patients. The aim of this study was to gain insights into the development of the community pharmacy sector and map facilitators and barriers of MUR in Eastern Europe and Iran.

Medication-related factors associated with proton pump inhibitor prescription beyond official guidelines in older adults.

Purpose: To investigate the relationship between medications with a known risk of gastrointestinal bleeding and proton pump inhibitor (PPI) prescription not according to guidelines.

Methods: An analysis of the records of 592 hospitalised patients aged 65 years or older was undertaken. The number of all medicines, potentially inappropriate medicines according to the EU(7)-PIM list and the Beers Criteria 2019 and medicines with a known risk of gastrointestinal bleeding, was compared in patients with PPI prescription not given based on guidelines and in patients with no PPI prescription.

Relationship between adolescents' and their parents' attitudes toward medicines and awareness of the risk of medicines.

Background When they reach adolescence, children begin to independently use medicine without their parents' supervision, but parents usually still want to be involved in their drug therapy. Objective The aim of this study was to investigate how parental attitudes and awareness toward medicine relate to adolescents' attitudes and awareness. Setting Twelve secondary schools in different regions of the Slovak Republic.

Adolescents' knowledge and perception of medicine risk.

Background: Adolescents often start to use medicines independently without having sufficient knowledge or previous experience, which can lead to the inappropriate use of medicines.

Methods: Adolescents' knowledge of medicines, perception of their effectiveness, risk of the medicines and a possible association between these terms and health status, age and gender were studied. A questionnaire-based survey was conducted in 13-18-year-old adolescents in secondary school.

Caustic Ingestion in the Elderly: Influence of Age on Clinical Outcome.

Caustic poisonings are still associated with many fatalities. Studies focusing on the elderly are rare. The purpose of the present study was to compare the clinical outcomes of caustic ingestion injury in elderly and non-elderly adults with regard to gender, intent of exposure, substance ingested, severity of mucosal injury, complications, and mortality.

Identifying the interprofessional agreement between community pharmacists and general practitioners views on collaborative practice in Slovakia.

Background: The collaboration of community pharmacists (CPs) and general practitioners (GPs) has a positive effect on healthcare outcomes. There are still many countries, where no efforts have been made to enhance this type of teamwork. There is no evidence of how GPs and CPs collaborate in Slovakia.

The effectiveness of daily SMS reminders in pharmaceutical care of older adults on improving patients' adherence to antihypertensive medication (SPPA): study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Despite a variety of efficient and cost-effective antihypertensive medication, hypertension remains a serious health and economic burden. High consumption of cardiovascular drugs in the Slovak Republic does result neither in better hypertension control nor in significant decrease in cardiovascular mortality. At the same time, Slovakia has alarmingly low patients' adherence to medication intake.

Influence of hospitalisation on the use of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers in elderly hypertensive patients.

Background And Aims: The underutilization of beneficial cardiovascular medications such as angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEI) and angiotensin receptor blockers (ARB) in the elderly patients continues to be a matter of concern. The aim of the presented study was to compare the prescription of ACEI and ARB in elderly hypertensive patients at the time of hospital admission and discharge and to identify patient-related factors which determine the prescription of ACEI/ARB.

Methods: The study sample (n = 1111) was selected from 2,157 patients hospitalised at long-term care departments of three municipal hospitals during the period between January 1, 2008 and December 31, 2009 and included hypertensive patients aged ≥65 years suffering from myocardial infarction, heart failure, atrial fibrillation, diabetes mellitus or nephropathy.

Characteristics of elderly patients who consider over-the-counter medications as safe.

Background: There is a lack of studies evaluating the factors which influence the perception of safety of over-the-counter (OTC) medications by elderly patients.

Objective: The aim of our questionnaire survey was to evaluate the perception of the risk of OTC medications by elderly patients and to identify patient-associated characteristics which determine elderly persons who consider OTC medications as safe.

Setting: 25 community pharmacies in different regions of the Slovak Republic.

The use of medications with anticholinergic properties and risk factors for their use in hospitalised elderly patients.

Purpose: The aims of the present study were to evaluate the use of drugs with anticholinergic properties in elderly patients and to identify risk factors that increase the patient's chance of being given such medications.

Methods: The study was performed on a sample of 1636 patients aged ≥65 years hospitalised during the period between 1 January 2008 and 31 December 2009 in three municipal hospitals. To evaluate the factors influencing the use of anticholinergic medications, we compared two groups-users and non-users of such drugs-in terms of sociodemographic and clinical characteristics as well as comorbid conditions.

The effect of selected patient's characteristics on the choice of antihypertensive medication in the elderly in Slovakia.

Purpose: The aim of the present study was to determine which patient-related characteristics influence the selection of the antihypertensive drug class in elderly patients in Slovakia.

Methods: The sample for our study (n = 401) was selected from 1045 patients admitted to the Department of Internal Medicine of a general hospital during the period of 1 December 2003-31 March 2005. Patients aged 65 or more with documented arterial hypertension and treated with at least one antihypertensive drug were enrolled in our retrospective study.

Alcohol intoxication requiring hospital admission in children and adolescents: retrospective analysis at the University Children's Hospital in the Slovak Republic.

Background: Few epidemiological studies have investigated the problem of children and adolescents taken to hospital with acute alcohol intoxication.

Methods: We reviewed the medical records of children and adolescents aged
Results: 537 patients (273 boys and 264 girls) were admitted to the hospital with intentional acute alcohol intoxication (1.

The effect of simvastatin on coenzyme Q and antioxidant/oxidant balance in diabetic-hypercholesterolaemic rats.

The effect of simvastatin administered for 10 days on coenzyme Q and antioxidant/oxidant balance in a rat model of diabetes mellitus and hypercholesterolaemia was studied. In the diabetic-hypercholesterolaemic rats the signs of oxidative stress-decreased alpha-tocopherol/cholesterol in the plasma (p < 0.01) and alpha-tocopherol in liver (p < 0.

Effects of Ligustrum delavayanum Hariot. on cholesterol levels and arrhythmogenesis induced by myocardial ischaemia-reperfusion injury in diabetic-hypercholesterolaemic rats.

The present study was conducted to determine the effects of Ligustrum delavayanum Hariot. (Oleaceae) on cholesterol levels and the outcome of myocardial reperfusion injury in diabetic-hypercholesterolaemic rats. Per orally daily administration of a Ligustrum infusion (1000mg/kg, calculated on the dry plant material) to the rats with induced diabetes and hypercholesterolaemia significantly reduced the liver total cholesterol content.

Adverse drug reactions related to hospital admission in Slovak elderly patients.

The aims of the present study were: to evaluate the prevalence of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) leading to hospitalization in elderly patients; to analyze the drugs which have been identified as having causal relationship with ADRs and to identify risk factors which predispose the patient to such ADRs. The study has been performed in 600 patients aged> or =65 years, hospitalized in a general hospital between 1 December 2003 and 31 March 2005. The ADRs recorded in patient's documentation as one of the reasons for hospital admission were evaluated.

Polypharmacy in elderly hospitalised patients in Slovakia.

Objective: The aims of the present study were to: analyse the prevalence of polypharmacy in a group of older patients; evaluate the influence of hospital stay on the number of drugs taken; assess the most frequently prescribed pharmacological classes; identify risk factors that predisposed the patient to polypharmacy. Setting The study was carried out in the Department of Internal Medicine of a non-university general hospital.

Method: In the retrospective study, 600 patients aged 65 years or more were enrolled.

The myocardial infarct size-limiting and antiarrhythmic effects of acyl-CoA:cholesterol acyltransferase inhibitor VULM 1457 protect the hearts of diabetic-hypercholesterolaemic rats against ischaemia/reperfusion injury both in vitro and in vivo.

The study was designed to characterise the influence of a novel acyl-CoA:cholesterol acyltransferase inhibitor, VULM 1457, on the severity of myocardial ischaemia-reperfusion injury in a model of diabetes mellitus and hypercholesterolaemia induced by co-administration of streptozotocin and a high fat-cholesterol diet. We used Langendorff-perfused rat hearts to measure the size of myocardial infarction after 30 min of regional ischaemia, followed by a 2-h reperfusion period, and open-chest rats were exposed to 6 min of ischaemia and 10 min of reperfusion to analyse ventricular arrhythmias. In addition to the high fat-cholesterol diet, VULM 1457 was administered to the diabetic-hypercholesterolaemic rats for 5 days.