BACKGROUND: Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are widely used analgesics worldwide in different syndromes. There is a relevant evidence about NSAIDs various adverse effects (AEs) on gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, renal, pulmonary, nervous systems. Many of these problems are preventable with respects to appropriate patient´s risk perception. OBJECTIVES: The main goal of our study was to examine drug risk perception with relation to participation factors as comorbidities in patients. METHODS: A structured questionnaire was delivered to 124 patients hospitalized at Department of Internal Medicine in a selected General Hospital in Greece. Data were evaluated using a descriptive statistics. RESULTS: Low awareness of NSAID risk was recorded, with 45.16 % of respondents unaware of any particular AEs. Lack of this knowledge appears to be attributed to low communication of physicians and pharmacists with patients about possible risk from comorbidity, over half of respondents (55.8 %) had history of hypertension, and 25.9 % were diabetics, which would increase the risk of NSAID therapy. CONCLUSION: Our study revealed a restricted knowledge about risk of NSAIDs in the studied population and showed some important data related to the presence of comorbidity in patients, which could potentiate the risk of cardiovascular AEs (Fig. 5, Ref. 22).
BACKGROUND: Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are widely used analgesics worldwide in different syndromes. There is a relevant evidence about NSAIDs various adverse effects (AEs) on gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, renal, pulmonary, nervous systems. Many of these problems are preventable with respects to appropriate patient´s risk perception. OBJECTIVES: The main goal of our study was to examine drug risk perception with relation to participation factors as comorbidities in patients. METHODS: A structured questionnaire was delivered to 124 patients hospitalized at Department of Internal Medicine in a selected General Hospital in Greece. Data were evaluated using a descriptive statistics. RESULTS: Low awareness of NSAID risk was recorded, with 45.16 % of respondents unaware of any particular AEs. Lack of this knowledge appears to be attributed to low communication of physicians and pharmacists with patients about possible risk from comorbidity, over half of respondents (55.8 %) had history of hypertension, and 25.9 % were diabetics, which would increase the risk of NSAID therapy. CONCLUSION: Our study revealed a restricted knowledge about risk of NSAIDs in the studied population and showed some important data related to the presence of comorbidity in patients, which could potentiate the risk of cardiovascular AEs (Fig. 5, Ref. 22).