Myocardial Infarction, Blood Sugar, and Diabetes: Treatment After Discharge

[Northerner]

Patients who are hospitalized on one drug regimen are often discharged on an entirely different set of medications. Medication additions, deletions, or modifications are usually necessary to address the precipitating event and fine-tune the patient’s medications, because treating new conditions creates new potential drug interactions. However, several studies indicate that medication omission at discharge—simply forgetting to include medication(s)— is the most common type of medication discrepancy.

Medications associated with endocrine conditions are among the most frequently omitted. People with diabetes and/or who have a myocardial infarction (MI) are at risk for 3 reasons. First, patients who experience an MI often have an elevated blood glucose level, regardless of whether they had been diagnosed with diabetes before the MI. They may continue to have an elevated blood glucose level after the MI, and may receive a diagnosis of diabetes. Second, patients with diabetes are at elevated risk for cardiovascular disease. Third, research has found that approximately 12% of patients with diabetes admitted to a hospital for MI were discharged without antihyperglycemic therapy (AHT). This increased the 1-year mortality rate in untreated patients.

http://www.pharmacytimes.com/public...-Sugar-and-Diabetes-Treatment-After-Discharge