[Use of drugs in patients with critical leg ischemia]

A survey on drugs prescriptions for chronic critical limb ischaemia (CLI) patients was conducted by the nurses involved in the i.c.a.i.-nursing study, a companion study of a randomized clinical trial. The aim of the survey was to describe the epidemiology of drugs prescriptions for CLI patients. The 360 CLI patients admitted to 31 vascular medical or surgical wards, from 1 to 30 november 1994 were recruited for the study. Nurses collected data on risk factors, drugs anamnesis and registered on an ad hoc form CLI specific drugs prescribed during hospital stay and on discharge. Information on the aims and expectations for drugs prescription was also collected. Two noteworthy results: the large variation of drugs associations among wards and the scarce prescription of analgesic drugs (11.8% before admission; 25.8% during hospital stay and 8.0% at discharge). This study represents one of the few pharmacoepidemiology studies available in the literature, conducted by nurses.