Identification of Drug-Related Problems and Assessment of Health-Related Quality of Life in Elderly Multimorbid Inpatients with Stroke
Year: 2026
Type: article
Study design: Observational Study
Abstract: Wenyi Yao,1,2,* Yanqi Shao,3,* Tingting Li,4 Siyi Wang,4 Li Gao,4 Ping Huang,2,4 Jieping Yan2,4 1School of Pharmacy, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, People’s Republic of China; 2The Second School of Clinical Medicine, Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, People’s Republic of China; 3Comprehensive Stroke Center, Department of Neurology, Zhejiang Provincial People’s Hospital, Affiliated People’s Hospital, Hangzhou Medical College, Hangzhou, People’s Republic of China; 4Center for Clinical Pharmacy, Department of Pharmacy, Zhejiang Provincial People’s Hospital, Affiliated People’s Hospital, Hangzhou Medical College, Hangzhou, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Jieping Yan, The Second School of Clinical Medicine, Hangzhou Normal University, 158 Shangtang Road, Hangzhou, 310014, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86-0571-85893117, Email [email protected]: This study seeks to identify and assess the severity of drug-related problems (DRPs), analyze risk factors and evaluate the impact of DRPs on the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) among elderly multimorbid inpatients with stroke in the Comprehensive Stroke Center (CSC) in China.Methods: A two-year retrospective study was conducted at a tertiary hospital among elderly multimorbid inpatients with stroke. Medication review, HRQoL assessment and stroke-associated clinical scales assessment by clinical pharmacists or the medical team.Results: An analysis of 592 patients revealed 576 DRPs. The mean age of patients was 73.64 ± 7.96 years old. 583 (55.6%) cases had at least one DRP, with an average of 1.53 ± 0.94 DRPs per patient. The most common multimorbidity pattern was co-existing hypertension and stroke (17.4%). “Drug selection, C1” emerged as the predominant cause of DRPs (54.0%; 311/576), followed by “Patient related, C7” (18.2%; 105/576). Most DRPs (79.3%, 457/576) were low severity (B-D); the remaining 20.7% (119/576) were high severity (E-H). Increased hospital length of stays (LOS) and coexisting atrial fibrillation were identified as significant factors influencing the occurrence of DRPs (p < 0.05). The quantity of DRPs showed a weak negative correlation with HRQoL scores (r = − 0.291, p < 0.001), as well as moderate positive correlations with both the mRS scores (r = 0.304, p < 0.001) and the NIHSS scores (r = 0.306, p < 0.001).Conclusion: DRPs are prevalent among elderly multimorbid inpatients with stroke in CSC and are mainly caused by drug selection and patient-related problems. Prolonged hospitalization days and the presence of atrial fibrillation were identified as significant risk factors for occurrence of DRPs in elderly multimorbid inpatients with stroke. Pharmaceutical services of medication review could assist in the identification of DRPs at the CSC.Keywords: clinical pharmacist, elderly inpatients, multimorbidity, drug-related problems, health-related quality of life
Language: English
Subfield: Geriatrics and Gerontology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7128668591
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