Inappropriate prescribing in an acutely ill population of elderly patients as determined by Beers' Criteria

• DOI: 10.1093/ageing/afm116
• Publication Date: 2007-10-13T00:13:30Z
• Authors: Paul F. Gallagher; Pat J. Barry; Cristin Ryan; Irene Hartigan; Denis O'Mahony
• Keywords: Beers Criteria

Introduction: Adverse drug events (ADEs) are associated with inappropriate prescribing (IP) and result in increased morbidity, mortality resource utilisation. We used Beers' Criteria to determine the three-month prevalence of IP a non-selected community-dwelling population acutely ill older people requiring hospitalisation. Methods: A prospective, observational study 597 consecutive acute admissions was performed. Diagnoses concurrent medications were recorded before hospital physician intervention, applied. Results: Mean patient age (SD) 77 (7) years. Median number 5, range 0–13. occurred 32% patients (n = 191), 24%, 6% 2% taking 1, 2 3 respectively. Patients >5 3.3 times more likely receive an medication than those ≤5 (OR 3.34: 95%, CI 2.37–4.79; P<0.001). Forty-nine per cent prescriptions admitted adverse effects medications. Sixteen all such effects. Conclusion: is highly prevalent polypharmacy However, cannot be as gold standard they do not comprehensively address aspects people.