Digitalis Withdrawal in Elderly Nursing Home Patients

Journal of the American Geriatrics SocietyPublished 1 December 1985

Charles Wilkins, Manbir S. Khurana

DOI10.1111/j.1532-5415.1985.tb05438.x

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Citations20

SJR quartileQ1

SJR score1.89

SNIP1.69

TL;DR

Baseline electrocardiogram showed normal sinus rhythm in 19 patients, who were observed very closely for the period of four months after withdrawal of digoxin, which suggests that most of the elderly nursing home patients with normal Sinus rhythm do not need a maintenance dose ofdigoxin.

Abstract

Nursing home patients were studied to determine the usefulness of a maintenance dose of digoxin in elderly patients with normal sinus rhythm. Of 64 patients, 26 were identified to be on digoxin. Thorough history and physical examination were done on all the patients. Baseline electrocardiogram showed normal sinus rhythm in 19 patients, who were observed very closely for the period of four months after withdrawal of digoxin. Eighteen of 19 patients did well without digoxin, which suggests that most of the elderly nursing home patients with normal sinus rhythm do not need a maintenance dose of digoxin.

Keywords

Medicine

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