Side effects related to potentially inappropriate medications in elderly psychiatric patients under everyday pharmacotherapy.

Purpose: Potentially inappropriate medication (PIM) is suggested to give rise to adverse drug events. To study this suggestion for elderly psychiatric patients, an observational analysis related prescription of PRISCUS PIMs and drug-induced side effects in old aged (≥65 years) psychiatric inpatients and outpatients under conditions of everyday pharmacotherapy.

Methods: Request forms from a therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM) survey and medical files were screened for medication to identify PIMs of the PRISCUS list and assessed using the Udvalg for Kliniske Undersøgelser (UKU) side effect rating scale.

Clozapine plasma level monitoring for prediction of rehospitalization schizophrenic outpatients.

Introduction: The aim of this naturalistic exploratory study was to examine whether blood antipsychotic drug concentrations can predict rehospitalizations in chronically medicated patients.

Methods: The study included schizophrenic outpatients under clozapine (CLZ) maintenance treatment, supervised by therapeutic drug monitoring (TDM). Patients were observed for a period of 21 months.

[Pharmacogenetics, therapeutic drug monitoring and non compliance].

To attain optimal therapeutic effects, a drug must reach its target structure in sufficiently high concentrations for a sufficiently long time. Lacking or insufficient response may be due to insufficient drug concentrations. It may be caused either by non compliance of the patient or by reduced absorption or ultra rapid metabolism of the drug.