Renal impairment and medication use among psychogeriatric inpatients.

OBJECTIVES: To determine the prevalence of renal impairment and the dosage appropriateness of several medications for which dosing guidelines in the advent of renal impairment are available. METHOD: The authors assessed the renal function and medication use of 37 psychogeriatric patients (mean age of 75 years) living in a psychiatric hospital. Renal function was determined by serum creatinine (SCr) levels and creatinine clearance (CCr) data using the Cockcroft and Gault equation. RESULTS: Thirteen of 37 patients (35%) were found to have renal impairment according to CCr data but only two patients (6%) were considered impaired according to SCr levels (k=0.19). Of 44 medications for which dosing guidelines were available, only two (5%) were prescribed inappropriately. CONCLUSION: These data suggest that CCr data should be used over SCr levels to determine renal impairment and to support the monitoring of psychogeriatric patients for declines in renal function and required medication adjustments.