Publication:

Conformity assessment of drugs used by the elderly in terms of the beers criteria

Background The risk of drug-drug interactions is more probable among the elderly population than that of the young patients, and this emerges as a potentially vital issue. Therefore, this survey aims to describe the conformity assessment of drugs used by the elderly in terms of The Beers Criteria.

Methods This descriptive study was conducted at two different nursing-homes with 301 seniors. The-AGS-2012-Beers-Criteria-List and a questionnaire, assessing the socio-demographic characteristics and the health-condition/illness-history of the elderly, were used in collecting the data. The data were gathered July 2013-July 2014, and evaluated via SPSS 16.0. Descriptive-statistics and the chi-square-test were used to identify the data.

Results The mean-age was 79.01±8.13. The most-common co-morbidity was brain-and-nervous-system-disorders, with a rate of 31.1%. The average-number of chronic-diseases was 3.5±1; three and more co-morbidity rate of the individuals was 70.8%.  The mean-quantity-of-medicine was 5.4±3.24. The most-frequently-used-drugs were Antidementia/Alzheimer's-Disease and Non-Steroidal-Anti-Inflammatory-Drugs (NSAIDs) 37.5% and 33.2% respectively. It was stated that 21.1% of-all-the-medication consumed-by-the seniors were “risky-to-use” according to The Beers Criteria. It was also reported that 23.8% of-all-medication used by the 65-74 age-group, 19% of-all-drugs used by the 75-84 age-interval, and 21.2% of-all-the medicine consumed by the 85-and-older-group were found “inappropriate” in terms of The Beers Criteria.

Conclusions In conclusion, the seniors have consumed a large-quantity-of-medicine; a significant-portion was concluded to be inappropriate-for-use in terms of the drug-drug and the drug-disease interactions according to The Beers Criteria. Nursing-home-health-care-professionals should re-assess the-medication-plans of the elderly by considering the-interaction-related-problems and should be aware of the potential-risks-of-the-drugs was suggested.