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Preventive and corrective treatment of drug-induced calcium deficiency: an analysis in a community pharmacy setting

This paper is available in a repository.
This paper is available in a repository.

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Preprint: policy unknown
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Postprint: policy unknown
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Abstract

Background Drug-nutrient interactions are not always valued in clinical practice. These interactions may result in drug-induced nutrient deficiency and therefore preventive and corrective treatments may be necessary. Pharmacy Technicians play an important role in identifying patients at risk. Objectives: To determine and characterise the values of the bone mineral density of patients using quantitative ultrasonic measurements of the calcaneus; to analyse the use of preventive or corrective treatment of drug-induced nutritional deficiencies and their consequences. Methods Observational analytic cross-sectional study performed in a Community Pharmacy in Porto with 103 individuals (82.5 % female) over the age of 40. Data collection was obtained through a structured questionnaire. Bone mineral density of the participants was quantitatively assessed by ultrasound of the calcaneus. Data were analysed using SPSS. Results Bone mineral density values were significantly lower in women (0.405 ± 1.07 g/cm3 vs. 0.510 ± 0.142 g/cm3). There was also a more pronounced decrease with age. Sixty-six per cent of the patients were being medicated with at least one drug that could induce calcium deficiency. Of the patients at risk, only 24.5 % take any sort of oral supplementation. About 30%of patients at risk were never screened or treated for osteoporosis. Conclusions The quantitative assessment of bone mineral density by ultrasound of the calcaneus in the pharmacy, allows the tracking of high-risk individuals. Pharmacy Technicians and other health professionals must provide a greater awareness of drug-induced nutritional deficiencies and adopt measures to prevent and avoid negative effects on patient health. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion