adverse effects

Falls are the major cause of morbidity and mortality among the elderly. Falls are caused by a combination of factors. Most of these falls are caused by intricate interactions between environmental and internal causes. The use of benzodiazepines is linked to a high proportion of falls among older people. Benzodiazepines are a class of drugs that can treat a range of conditions. Doctors often prescribe them to treat anxiety, seizures, and insomnia. The short-term use of these medications is usually safe and effective, but long-term use can lead to tolerance, dependence, and other adverse effects. After falls, older people frequently experience a loss in functional status and social activities, as well as a lower quality of life. Therefore, they should be provided to elderly patients under the current clinical standards and reviewed on a regular basis. The therapy of choice should be short-acting benzodiazepines in the elderly population. It should be given as a short-term treatment and gradually tapered thereafter. Benzodiazepines should be replaced with safer alternatives such as sleep restriction therapy, cognitive behavioural therapy, and sleep hygiene psychoeducation. In this article, we examine the evidence on the prevalence of benzodiazepine usage and drug dependence, as well as the fall risk of benzodiazepines in the elderly.

Penfluridol is oral long acting depot antipsychotic introduced in 1970s. The re-emergence of the molecule in the practicing field draws attention of clinicians. The systematic search and review of literature done in order to find current perspectives of use of Penfluridol. Systematic search of prospective clinical research studies has been done. Cochrane Database review of twenty-seven studies done with a total of 1024 patients revealed that penfluridol was superior to placebo in improvement in clinical global impression and reduces the need of additional antipsychotic. Indications of penfluridol include acute psychosis, chronic schizophrenia and Tourette’s syndrome. The notable adverse effects include orthostatic hypotension, osteoporosis leading to fracture in elderly, extra pyramidal side effects and QT prolongations with arrhythmia. Most of the studies were done in 1970s and 1980s when the proper conduct of clinical trials were not established.

Pharmacovigilance is defined as the pharmacological science that is relating to the detection, assessment, understanding, prevention of adverse effects, particularly the long term &short term adverse effects of medicines. The Pharmacovigilance is the important and integral part of clinical research. This article describes and discusses the aims, objectives, role, need for the Pharmacovigilance, different Pharmacovigilance programme, various Pharmacovigilance methods, Pharmacovigilance reporting and functioning.