AI Article Synopsis

  • The study addressed the rising issue of alcohol and medication use among older adults, highlighting the risks of combining these substances.
  • It involved creating a list of 256 medications known to have interactions with alcohol, using multiple reference works and data from older patients living in the community.
  • Findings revealed that nearly half of the older patients consumed alcohol regularly, with a significant percentage using medications that could potentially interact negatively with alcohol.

Article Abstract

Objectives: Alcohol and medication use are increasingly prevalent in the older population. Concurrent use of alcohol and alcohol-interactive (AI) medication can lead to significant adverse consequences.

Methods: Three reference works were used to create an explicit list of drug substances for which information about the interaction with alcohol was available in at least one of them. Additional information was extracted from the Summary of Product Characteristics (SPC). The first aim was to generate a list of 256 substances with standardized advice regarding the concurrent use of each drug with alcohol. The second aim was to observe the prevalence of potential drug-alcohol-interactions. The list was applied to a database containing information about alcohol and medication use of 1,016 community-dwelling older patients (≥70 years) with polypharmacy.

Results: About half of the sample population reported to consume alcohol at least once a week. Around 22% were classified as frequent drinkers (5-7 days/week) and 11% as heavier drinkers (>7 units/week). Ninety-three percent alcohol consumers in our sample took at least one chronic drug that potentially interacts with alcohol and 42% used at least one chronic drug for which alcohol use is considered contraindicated.

Conclusions: We developed an explicit list of potentially drug-alcohol-interactions in older adults, with standardized handling advice. We observed that prevalence of potential drug-alcohol-interactions is substantial in community-dwelling older patients with polypharmacy.

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Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/dmdi-2020-0183DOI Listing

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