Potentially inappropriate medication usage, fall and comorbidities in geriatric patients diagnosed with chronic subdural hematoma

Abstract

Aim: The annual incidence of chronic subdural hematoma is 2-4/100000 in geriatric population. We aimed to investigate relationship between potentially inappropriate medication usage according to Beers 2019 criteria, fall and Charlson comorbidity index in geriatric patients diagnosed with chronic subdural hematoma.
 Materials and Methods: We retrospectively collected medical records of 69 geriatric patients diagnosed with chronic subdural hematoma and hospitalized for the last 5 years in neurosurgery department of Izmir Katip Çelebi University Hospital with the permission of local ethical committee of medical faculty. Data was recorded and analyzed with appropriate method by using SPSS v18.
 Results: Mean age was 78.43 ± 7.51 years, mean Charlson comorbidity index was 5.87 ± 2.97. Falling events were responsible for 59 (85.5%) out of 69 chronic subdural hematoma cases. Potentially inappropriate medication usage according to Beers 2019 criteria was found in 20 (29%) patients. Inappropriate medications belonged to cardiovascular system (14.5%) class and antiplatelet/anticoagulant (14.5%) class mostly. When group was divided into two groups as patients who used potentially inappropriate medication or not, Charlson comorbidity index was found to be higher in the first group. (p 0.05). Charlson comorbidity index and number of medications showed significant correlation (p = 0.001).
 Conclusion: We could not reach a significant correlation between fall, Charlson comorbidity index and potentially inappropriate medication usage in our retrospective study. Small study population size, unreliable medical records and relatively healthy characteristics of population may contribute to crossing results.