Abstract

DUQUE VIZCAINO, Milena; FITERRE LANCIS, Irene; ALONSO GALBAN, Patricia  and  CASTELLANOS GARCIA, Alejandro. Misuse of antimicrobials in patients with decompensate heart failure. Rev Cubana Farm [online]. 2014, vol.48, n.3, pp.416-422. ISSN 0034-7515.

Introduction: in medical practice, the number of patients who are admitted to hospital due to uncompensated heart failure and are treated with antimicrobials outweighs the prevalence of infections (15.3 %) as cause of non-compensation. Objective: to determine the inadequate use of antimicrobials in patients suffering heart failure. Methods: retrospective, cross-sectional and descriptive study of 184 patients who were admitted to the internal medicine service of "Joaquin Albarran" clinical-surgical and teaching hospital and diagnosed with heart failure from January 2010 through December 2011. It was considered that the antimicrobials had been misused since there was no infection linked to the heart failure. Results: the heart failure-associated infection prevailed in 40.8 % of patients and antimicrobials were prescribed for 69 % of them. The global prevalence of misuse of antimicrobials in this population reached 32.6 %. Conclusions: the results reveal that it is required to improve the prescription of antimicrobials for patients with heart failure.

Keywords : heart failure; antimicrobials; misuse.

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