Drug - related emergency department visits by elderly patients presenting with non-specific complaints

Table 1 Prescribed drugs at presentation to the ED

Drug class	Number of patients	Percent % (total n = 633)
Diuretics (all types)	294	46.4
Non-thiazide diuretics	225	41.4
Thiazide diuretics	136	21.5
ACE inhibitors/AR blockers	231	36.5
Beta-blockers	211	33.3
Other cardiovascular drugs^†	129	20.4
Platelet aggregation inhibitors	236	37.3
Vitamin K- antagonists	90	14.2
Systemic steroids	47	7.4
NSAID	98	15.5
Opioids	69	10.9
All psychotropic drugs	298	47.1
Benzodiazepines	121	19.1
Neuroleptics	91	14.4
Antidepressants	160	25.3
Other^‡	86	13.6
Anticonvulsants	61	9.6
Anti-Parkinson drugs	48	7.6

^†calcium channel blockers, nitrates, digoxine, amiodarone.
^‡other hypnotica such as barbiturates, zopiclone and zolpidem and others, such as St. Johns Worth.

ISSN: 1757-7241