ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Respiratory Pharmacology
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fphar.2025.1596795
This article is part of the Research TopicResearch and Innovation Approaches to Personalized Pharmacotherapies for Respiratory DiseasesView all articles
Drug-related Problems in Elderly Patients with AECOPD and Pharmaceutical Intervention Practice: A Prospective Study
Provisionally accepted
- Gaochun Hospital Affiliated to Jiangsu University, Nanjing, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Background: Elderly patients with acute exacerbation of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (AECOPD) face an elevated risk of drug-related problems (DRPs) owing to age-related decline in physiological reserve and multiple comorbidities. This study aims to systematically identify and categorize the DRPs of elderly patients with AECOPD, analyze their causes and risk factors, and evaluate the impact of pharmaceutical interventions on resolving DRPs. Methods: Elderly patients hospitalized with AECOPD at Gaochun Hospital Affiliated to Jiangsu University were enrolled in this prospective study from January 1, 2023 to December 31, 2024. Clinical pharmacists classified and documented DRPs using the Pharmaceutical Care Network Europe (PCNE) V9.1 Classification System, followed by targeted pharmaceutical interventions based on causes of DRPs. Results: A total of 544 AECOPD patients were included in the study. Among them, 393 DRPs were identified in 300 patients, resulting in an occurrence rate of 55.15%. "P2 Treatment safety" was the major DRPs (n=177, 45.04%). Univariate and multivariate analysis showed that the number of drugs > 15 (OR:136.648, 95% CI: 38.693~482.583) and the number of comorbidities > 2 (OR:161.092, 95% CI: 43.880~591.402) were the risk factors for DRPs (P＜0.001). 472 causes were analyzed by clinical pharmacists. "C9.1 No or inappropriate outcome monitoring (including TDM)" was the most common cause of DRPs (n=163, 34.53%). Clinical pharmacists proposed 435 interventions to address DRPs, of which 398 (91.49%) interventions were accepted. In the end, 294 (74.81%) DRPs were totally solved, and 18 (4.58%) DRPs were partially solved. Conclusions: The incidence of DRPs is high in elderly hospitalized patients with AECOPD in China.The number of comorbidities and prescription drugs are important predictors for DRPs. The active involvement of clinical pharmacists in the management of AECOPD patients can enhance both the safe and effective use of medications among elderly patients, as well as the overall quality of pharmaceutical care.
Keywords: Drug-related problems, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, Acute exacerbation, Clinical pharmacists, Hospital pharmaceutical service
Received: 20 Mar 2025; Accepted: 12 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Ma, Shi, Hong, Wu and Lin. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Lianping Wu, Gaochun Hospital Affiliated to Jiangsu University, Nanjing, China
Yu Lin, Gaochun Hospital Affiliated to Jiangsu University, Nanjing, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.