Patterns of pain medication use in older individuals with cardiovascular disease

AbstractBackground: Pain is common in older adults and clinicians are often faced by many challenges when selecting appropriate treatment due to age-related changes in pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, increased comorbidities, and polypharmacy.Methods: This study assessed the patterns of pain medications used at home among older adults admitted to the cardiology service in a tertiary care teaching center in the US from March to May 2016. A retrospective chart review was conducted where adults, 65 years of age or older, with cardiovascular diseases admitted to the cardiology service and taking at least one pain medication at home were studied.Results: Out of 404 patients who were admitted to the cardiology service, 228 (56.4%) were on at least one pain medication. Among the admitted patients, 64.2% of the females received at least one pain medication, as compared to 49% of the males (p = 0.002). Participants had a mean age of 76.34 ± 7.43 years, and received a mean of 1.81 ± 0.83 pain medications. Neurop...