Romanian Society of Pharmaceutical Sciences

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LONG-TERM USE OF NONSTEROIDAL ANTIINFLAMMATORY DRUGS AND DEPRESSION IN ELDERLY PATIENTS

ILEANA RĂDUCANU1*, ION FULGA2, CRISTINA IONESCU1, ANA SEGÂRCEANU2

1“Ana Aslan” National Institute of Gerontology and Geriatrics, Bucharest
2“Carol Davila” University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Bucharest

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Medication is a recognized factor that increases the risk of depression and is more important in the elderly patients due to polytherapy and secondary changes in pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics. Of all long-term use drug classes administered in elderly, we have found out significant differences in the mean scores of the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) only for the following drug classes old persons use: sedatives, anxiolytics and hypnotics, and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, respectively (NSAIDs). There have been no significant differences among the GDS mean scores when the main NSAIDs were used. For the sedatives’ group after excluding patients who received simultaneously NAISDs, the GDS mean score was not significantly different from that in the whole group. These data suggest that NSAIDs could have a direct effect on mood when they are long-term used by the elderly patients.