The latest research by researchers from Ghent University in Belgium, proposes that splitting pills can result in intake of wrong medication. The patients suffering from conditions such as Parkinson’s, arthritis, heart failure and thrombosis are more prone to have over dose if they split their tablets.
To verify the negative effects of splitting pills, in five participants, a student of pharmacy, a professor, a researcher, a lab technician and an administrative worker. The participants were prepared to split the pill into three thousand and six hundred separate quarters through three different methods, first is specialist splitting device, scissors and kitchen knife.
The drugs which were considered for that purpose were those recommended for heart failure, arthritis and thrombosis. These drugs included Lanoxin, Marevan, Sinemet Merck-Metformine, Medrol , Aldactone , Marcoumar, and zestril. The study claimed that thirty-one percent of alienated were found to be different from the anticipated lingering dose on inspection.
However, the specialist splitting mechanism was the most accurate among all three mechanisms. It only generated mild errors in about thirteen percent of the cases. While splitting pills with scissors resulted in about twenty-two percent of errors in all cases and separating with knife generated errors in seventeen percent cases.
Regardless of negative impacts linked to split pill, doctors sometimes do suggest splitting them. The pills were divided for various reasons, tablet splitting is prevalent in all healthcare sectors and a primary care study in Germany found that just under a quarter of all drugs were split, explained study author Dr Charlotte Verrue.
This is done due to a numeral of reasons like, to increase flexibility of dose, to make tablets easier to swallow and to save money for both patients and healthcare providers. But, the split pills are frequently uneven sizes and a considerable amount of the pill can be lost during splitting, added Dr Verrue.