Labuz-Roszak Ret al. - The goal of this research was to assess the prevalence of use of oral antiplatelet drugs (OAPs) and oral anticoagulant drugs (OACs) among the elderly with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in Poland. It was showed that cardiovascular pharmacological prevention in the elderly with T2DM in Poland seems to be unsatisfactory. The results suggested that educational programmes concerning current recommendations for pharmacological cardiovascular prevention should be established among general practitioners.

Methods

• The research was based on the data collected in the Polish national PolSenior study.

Results

• In this study, 883 (17.8%) had previously diagnosed T2DM among 4979 PolSenior participants aged 65 and over.
• Among them, it was showed that 441 (49.9%) used at least one drug in pharmacological cardiovascular prevention, i.e. OAPs (mostly ASA) in 405 (45.9%) cases and OACs in 38 (4.3%).
• The data showed that the use of these drugs significantly depended on the sex (p = 0.02) and personal income (p = 0.05).
• It was noted that age, place of residence and level of education did not influence the frequency of pharmacological prevention.
• The outcomes highlighted that previous stroke and myocardial infarction were mostly correlated with OAPs, whereas a history of atrial fibrillation (AF) was related to OAC treatment.
• They exhibited evidence that among participants treated with OAPs, therapy was applied as secondary cardiovascular prevention in 211 (52.1%) subjects, and as primary prevention in 194 (47.9%) subjects.
• The data suggested that 24 (64.9%) persons had a history of AF among participants treated with OACs.
• In addition, secondary cardiovascular pharmacological prevention should be considered in 45 untreated participants (12.5%), and primary cardiovascular pharmacological prevention (SCORE ? 10 and/or AF) in 154 participants (42.7%).