https://ogma.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/ /manager/Index ${session.getAttribute("locale")} 5 Polypharmacy among inpatients aged 70 years or older in Australia https://ogma.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/ /manager/Repository/uon:28069 Sat 24 Mar 2018 07:39:47 AEDT ]]> Self-poisoning by older Australians: a cohort study https://ogma.newcastle.edu.au/vital/access/ /manager/Repository/uon:32045 P<0.001). Median LOS for older patients was 34 h (interquartile range [IQR], 16-75 h), longer than for younger patients (16 h; IQR, 9-25 h; P<0.001). 133 older patients (21.2%) were admitted to an ICU, compared with 1976 younger patients (11.9%; P<0.001). 24 older patients (3.8%) and 93 younger patients (0.6%) died; mortality among older patients declined over time. Hypotension and arrhythmias were more common in patients over 65. Benzodiazepines (24%) were the drugs most commonly ingested by older patients, but opioids the most frequently taken drugs in fatal cases. Toxic ingestion of cardiovascular drugs increased threefold over the 26 years; about one-third of poisonings were unintentional or iatrogenic. Recreational drugs were implicated in the admissions of four older patients (0.6%), but in 7.8% of those of people under 65. Conclusion: Older patients treated for self-poisoning differ in several important respects from patients under 65. They are more severely affected by self-poisoning: LOS is greater, and ICU admission and mortality rates are higher.]]> Mon 23 Sep 2019 10:32:35 AEST ]]>