Antipsychotic Prescribing Pattern In Elderly Patients With Psychiatric Disorders

The elderly people are more prone to develop psychiatric disorders due to a number of factors like changes in the brain, other illnesses etc. They represent the most vulnerable group as they are most sensitive to the effects of drugs and are at increased risk of developing adverse drug reactions. This warrants the need to make the prescribers cautious about rational prescribing of antipsychotics to the Elderly. The study included elderly inpatients and outpatients visiting psychiatry ward with psychiatric disorders. Descriptive weighed analysis was performed to determine the prescribing practices of atypical antipsychotics. Among the 70 patients who were involved in the study, 36 patients were diagnosed with neurotic disorders and 30 patients were diagnosed with psychotic disorders and 4 were diagnosed with degenerative disorders (dementia). In our study neurotic disorders (51%) were the major diagnosis. 6 different atypical antipsychotic drugs were prescribed to the patients suffering from different psychiatric disorders. Among them olanzapine (43%) was the most commonly prescribed drug, followed by quetiapine (30%), risperidone (21%), clozapine (3.2%), lurasidone (1%), and aripiprazole (1%). This study has concluded that atypical antipsychotics are preferred over typical antipsychotics and Olanzapine is the most commonly prescribed drug for the elderly patients suffering from psychiatric disorders. On comparison of the prescribed daily doses with the maximum daily dose we have observed that the prescribed daily doses for the elderly patients were well within the maximum daily dose of the drugs and in our study no adverse drug reactions were reported in the study subjects that were involved.

Pacemaker endocarditis caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa treated successfully.

Infective endocarditis (IE) is a rare but serious complication of permanent cardiac pacemaker placement. Endocarditis in the presence of prosthetic valves and pacemakers is usually due to staphylococci. We present a case of pacemaker endocarditis caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa that was successfully treated with a combination of antimicrobial therapy and percutaneous removal of the colonized lead.

Hearing anomalies following radiation therapy for head and neck cancers.

Ionizing radiation used for the treatment of head and neck tumors affected epithelial and connective tissue. Epithelial lining of the middle ear mucosa desquamated, when exposed to conventional dose of radiation. Mucosa becomes oedematous which subsequently lead to formation and collection of sterile fluid within middle ear cavity and thus producing radiation otitis media with conductive deafness. Radiation induced changes in the structure surrounding the end organs of hearing such as vascular and connective tissue alterations which later eventually could affect the end organ leading to perceptive type of hearing loss as a result of chronic anoxia to end organ.

Respiratory responses and blood sugar level of the crab, Barytelphusa cunicularis (Westwood), exposed to mercury, copper and zinc.

Barytelphusa cunicularis (Westwood), a freshwater crab was exposed to mercuric chloride, copper sulphate and zinc sulphate from 0 to 12 hr and the oxygen consumption of the animal was measured in order to study the stress caused by these heavy metals. Normal oxygen consumption was affected by the three heavy metals. Similarly, crabs exposed to sublethal concentrations of the same pollutants for 24, 48, 72 and 96 hr showed an elevation in the blood sugar level with a maximum increase at 48 hr. The results indicate a switch towards glycolysis in order to overcome the anaerobic stress caused by the heavy metals.