Revista española de geriatría y gerontología
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Rev Esp Geriatr Gerontol · Jul 2012
Review[Polypharmacy in frail elderly patients: is deprescribing the answer?].
Deprescribing is the process of reconstructing multiple medication use by review and analysis and which concludes with dose modification, replacement or elimination of some drugs or adding others. Its development is intended to resolve tensions and contradictions between two sets of questions: 1/is life expectancy shorter than the time the drug takes to obtain a benefit?, and 2/are the goals of prescribing-deprescribing consistent with those of care? The validity of the rationale on deprescribing is based on scientific and ethical reasons. The usefulness and safety of many drugs that frail elderly or terminally ill takes is unknown, and other drugs may cause troublesome or severe side effects. Thus, in some cases their removal could be justified, being substantially safe doing so.
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To determine the prevalence of dysphagia in a population of institutionalised elderly people, and the effectiveness of a clinical method for its detection. ⋯ The diagnosis of dysphagia in this sample of institutionalised elderly people increases when applying a clinical method for detection, reaching a prevalence similar to other studies.