Publications by authors named "Olaf Krause"

Acute care of patients in the emergency department (ED) can be very challenging when patients attend EDs without their important medical information. This is especially problematic for multimorbid patients under polypharmacy. The aim of this study was to assess systematically the frequency and clinical relevance of incomplete medical data upon ED admission.

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Background: Antidepressants are first-line medications for many psychiatric disorders. However, their widespread long-term use in some indications (e.g.

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  • Multiple system atrophy (MSA) is a serious disease that affects movement and is hard to treat.
  • Researchers studied MSA patients to see what other health problems they have and how many medications they take.
  • They found that MSA patients have more health issues, especially related to the bladder and kidneys, and take more medications, which can lead to dangerous drug interactions.
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  • Progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) patients, typically older adults, have a distinct pattern of health comorbidities and often take multiple medications compared to those without neurodegenerative diseases.
  • The study analyzed data from over 600 patients, revealing higher rates of circulatory and nervous system diseases in PSP patients, alongside increased occurrences of conditions like diabetes and polyneuropathies.
  • The PSP group showed significantly more polypharmacy, leading to a higher risk of severe drug interactions, highlighting the need for careful management of treatment in these patients.
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Background: Post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) is an effective tool to prevent infection with HIV. Patients seeking PEP after potential HIV exposure usually present to the emergency department (ED). Our study sought to determine the concordance of ED physicians' decisions on HIV-PEP with national guidelines (primary objective) and to assess the clinical relevance of drug-drug interactions (DDIs) between the HIV-PEP regimen and patients' concomitant medication (secondary objective).

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Purpose: This study sought to analyze the medication knowledge and awareness of medication adjustment options during intercurrent illness (sick day rules) of patients ≥ 70 years treated at a hospital for geriatric medicine in northern Germany.

Methods: The study was designed as a cross-sectional, interview-based pilot study, was approved by the Ethics Committee of Hannover Medical School (No. 10274_BO_K_2022; date of approval: 11 March 2022), and enrolled a convenience sample of 100 patients between May and December 2022.

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Background: Nursing home residents (NHR) show high rates of polypharmacy. The HIOPP-3-iTBX study is the first cRCT on medication optimization in nursing homes (NH) in Germany. The intervention did not result in a reduction of PIM and/or antipsychotics.

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Introduction: QT prolongation carries the risk of ventricular tachyarrhythmia (Torsades de Pointes) and sudden cardiac death. Psychotropic drugs can affect ventricular repolarization and thus prolong the QT interval. The present study sought to investigate the risk factors (pharmacological and non-pharmacological) of severe QT prolongation in gerontopsychiatric patients.

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Purpose: To determine the nature and frequency of duplicate prescriptions (DPs) in the emergency department (ED) by utilization of a novel categorization of DPs which differentiates between appropriate DPs (ADPs) and potentially inappropriate DPs (PIDPs).

Methods: In this retrospective cohort study, adult patients who presented to the ED for internal medicine of a large university hospital in northern Germany in 2018 and 2019 were screened for the presence of DPs. Descriptive statistical methods were used to characterize the nature and frequency of PIDPs compared to the frequency of ADPs.

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Drug information centers (DICs) are institutions dedicated to provide objective, independent, and up-to-date information on drugs and their rational use. To overcome the lack of recent DIC reports from central Europe, we analyzed all queries (n = 594) submitted to the DIC run by the Institute for Clinical Pharmacology of Hannover Medical School between October 2018 and April 2022. Approximately one in three queries (31.

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Background: In a university emergency department (ED), patients with low treatment urgency and general medical complaints are assigned to general practitioners within the ED. The Emergency Severity Index (ESI) was implemented to determine the urgency of treatment.

Objectives: To investigate the impact of the ESI implementation on the patient population treated by general practitioners and to show the distribution of ESI categories among these patients.

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Objectives: Information on medication-related problems (MRPs) in elderly psychiatric patients is scarce. In the present study, we analyzed the frequency and characteristics of MRPs in patients ≥60 years treated on the gerontopsychiatric ward of Hannover Medical School in 2019.

Methods: Taking advantage of an interdisciplinary approach, two independent investigators screened hospital discharge letters of 230 psychiatric inpatients for clinically relevant MRPs, followed by validation through an interdisciplinary expert panel.

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In an industrial society, the proportion of geriatric people increases with rising age. These people are likely to use polypharmacy and experience medical emergencies. However, their emergency care can be complicated by unclear comorbidities and medication.

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Background: Emergencies in nursing homes lead to frequent utilization of emergency medical services and emergency department visits, which are frequently assessed as avoidable and do not comply with the patients' wishes. Emergency management is complicated by structural conditions, uncertainty and difficulties in communication between the treating healthcare professionals.

Objective: In the framework of the NOVELLE research project a model for a recommendation for action was developed in an interprofessional process to structure the emergency management in nursing homes.

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Background: The safety of drug use by nursing-home residents can be impaired by polypharmacy, potentially inappropriate medications (PIM), and neuroleptics, as well as by a lack of adequate interprofessional coordination in the nursing home. The goal of the HIOPP-3-iTBX Trial was to improve drug safety in nursing-home residents, including a reduction of PIM and/or neu - roleptic use, by means of a complex interprofessional intervention.

Methods: This cluster-randomized, controlled trial was performed in nursing homes in Germany.

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Due to demographic changes, proximal femoral fractures (PFF) in the elderly rise constantly. The standard diagnostic tool is still the X-ray of the pelvis/hip in two planes. Our hypothesis was that the lateral-view X-ray has little influence on classification, planning of the operative procedure, and choice of implant in geriatric patients.

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