Publication

Abstract : Background: Age related physiological changes alter the pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of many drugs in the elderly. Due to the presence of co-morbidities and polypharmacy, adverse effects and interactions of many drugs are prominent in geriatric population. Prescribing of inappropriate drugs to this population further complicates the scenario. Hence the present study was done to evaluate the appropriateness of drug therapy in geriatric patients admitted to tertiary care hospital using Beers criteria 2015. Method: A prospective observational cohort study was conducted on a randomly selected sample of 400 patients out of 920 eligible geriatric patients (〉65 years) admitted to a tertiary care hospital. The potentially inappropriate medications (PIM) were identified using Beers criteria 2015. Drug interactions were identified by Lexi-comp® drug interaction checker. Findings: At least one PIM was received by 76.5% of the study patients. of 7, 890 medications prescribed, 13.58% were inappropriate. Of 1, 072 PIM prescribed, 51.21% were category A (PIM to be avoided in older adults) drugs of which alprazolam ranked first. Significantly more PIM were prescribed for admitted patients than for discharged patients (p <0.001). Similarly, PIM prescribed for the medical patients were significantly more than those for the surgical patients (p <0.001). Polypharmacy was observed in 93.75% of the patients. Adverse drug reactions and drug combinations with serious interactions were also observed. Conclusion: Prescribing of PIM was observed in majority of the admitted geriatric patients. Better pharmaceutical care need to be given to the geriatric patients of our society. © 2018 Rasgo Editorial S.A. All rights reserved.