Paracetamol dosing in hospital and on discharge for older people who are frail or have low body weight.

ABSTRACT:

Aims

To describe paracetamol dosing and liver function test (LFT) monitoring in older hospital inpatients who are frail or have low body weight.

Methods

Retrospective observational study, at a 790-bed metropolitan public health service in Australia. Patients aged ≥70 years, with body weight <50 kg or frailty index based on laboratory data (FI-Lab) score ≥0.3, who were administered paracetamol during an admission with length-of-stay >72 hours, were included. Data were extracted from electronic medical records. Paracetamol doses administered in hospital, and doses prescribed on discharge, were compared against consensus guidelines that recommended ≤60 mg/kg/d for older people weighing <50 kg, and ≤3000 mg/d for frail older people.

Results

In total, 240 admissions (n = 2

SUBMITTER: Reid O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9546042 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature