Muscle loss and sarcopenia associated with physical function and functioning capacity in community-dwelling older women with bone loss / 体力科学

This study aimed to characterize physical function and functional capacity related to low muscle mass and sarcopenia in older women with low bone mass. In the study, 122 older women with bone loss were included and divided into three groups according to the presence or absence of muscle loss and sarcopenia; bone loss only, bone loss and muscle loss, and bone loss and sarcopenia groups. Multinomial logistic regression analysis was conducted using the three groups as dependent variables. Body mass index (BMI) (odds ratio; 0.566, 95% confidence interval; 0.431-0.742), Kihon checklist of “motor function” (odds ratio; 2.230, 95% confidence interval; 1.179-4.217), and “homebound” (odds ratio; 5.123, 95% confidence interval; 1.122-23.391) were extracted as relevant factors in the bone loss and sarcopenia group. In addition to low BMI, sarcopenia in older women with reduced bone mass is associated with lower “motor function” and “homebound” functional capacity.

Medical Economic Research on Pharmaceutical Inquiries Made by Hospital Pharmacists about Prescriptions for Inpatients / 医薬品情報学

<b>Objective: </b>To examine the usefulness of inquiries made by hospital pharmacists.<br><b>Methods: </b>This study was conducted a survey about the actual condition of inquiries at 5 hospitals.<br><b>Results: </b>The prescriptions subjected to inquiry accounted for 1.5% of the inpatient prescriptions and 0.3% of the injection prescriptions.  In cases of “Incomplete entry in the prescription” for the subcategory of “Question about safety,” drug costs without the impact of pharmaceutical inquiries were calculated on the assumption that the concerned drugs should have been generally prescribed.  Our results showed that the total savings in medical costs were 30,673 yen for the inpatient prescriptions and 159,212 yen for injection prescriptions, which suggested that pharmaceutical inquiries are effective for saving medical costs for either type of prescriptions.  In the case of patients in whom adverse drug reactions (ADRs) might have occurred without prescription changes, medical cost savings realized by preventing ADRs were estimated using the Diagnosis Procedure Combination/Per-Diem Payment System (DPC/PDPS).  Our results showed that the savings were 1,428,710 yen for inpatient prescriptions (6 patients), which indicated that a large amount of medical costs was saved.<br><b>Conclusions: </b>Our results suggested that similar to pharmaceutical inquiries made by community pharmacists, those made by hospital pharmacists not only result in the proper delivery of drug therapy but also are useful in terms of medical economics.