Adverse drug events are a major cause of preventable hospital admissions and emergency
department (ED) visits, particularly among elderly patients due to multimorbidities
and polypharmacy
[
[1]
]. Although many of these events are not easily prevented, it is important to reduce
inappropriate medication, which can be harmful. Several screening tools to detect
potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs) have been developed by geriatric experts
in some countries
[
2
,
3
]. In ED settings, 30% to 80% of elderly patient visits include at least 1 PIM at presentation
[
4
,
5
]. Therefore, the American geriatric emergency guidelines have recommended the screening
of any high-risk medications using explicit criteria for all elderly patients presenting
to the ED, regardless of the presenting complaint
[
[6]
]. Despite the importance of recognizing PIMs, little is known about the awareness
of emergency physicians regarding PIMs in elderly patients; therefore, we evaluated
this subject. We also determined the prevalence and characteristics of PIMs in elderly
patients in ED settings using the updated Beers criteria
[
[2]
].To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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References
- Hospitalisations caused by adverse drug reactions (ADR): a meta-analysis of observational studies.Pharm World Sci. 2002; 24: 46-54https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1015570104121
- 2015 Beers Criteria Update Expert Panel. American Geriatrics Society 2015. Updated Beers Criteria for potentially inappropriate medication use in older adults.J Am Geriatr Soc. 2015; 63: 2227-2246https://doi.org/10.1111/jgs.13702
- STOPP/START criteria for potentially inappropriate prescribing in older people: version 2.Age Ageing. 2015; 44: 213-218https://doi.org/10.1093/ageing/aful45
- Inappropriate prescribing in an older ED population.Am J Emerg Med. 2007; 25: 804-807https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2710.2007.00793.x
- Prevalence of potentially inappropriate prescribing in an acutely ill population of older patients admitted to six European hospitals.Eur J Clin Pharmacol. 2011; 67: 1175-1188https://doi.org/10.1007/s00228-011-1061-0
- Geriatric emergency department guidelines.Ann Emerg Med. 2014; 63: e7-e25https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annemergmed.2014.02.008
- A new method of classifying prognostic comorbidity in longitudinal studies: development and validation.J Chron Dis. 1987; 40: 373-383https://doi.org/10.1016/0021-9681(87)90171-8
- Interventions to improve the appropriate use of polypharmacy for older people.Cochrane Database Sys Rev. 2014; 10CD008165https://doi.org/10.1002/14651858.CD008165.pub3
- Hospitalization and death associated with potentially inappropriate medication prescriptions among elderly nursing home residents.Arch Intern Med. 2005; 165: 68-74https://doi.org/10.1001/archinte.165.1.68
- Do emergency physicians attribute drug-related emergency department visits to medication-related problems?.Ann Emerg Med. 2010; 55: 493-502https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annemergmed.2009.10.008
Article Info
Publication History
Published online: June 22, 2016
Accepted:
June 15,
2016
Received:
June 13,
2016
Footnotes
☆Source of support: None.
Identification
Copyright
© 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
