To evaluate the reliability of a medication appropriateness index (MAI) modified for elderly outpatients in a non-Veterans Affairs setting.
DESIGN:
Reliability study.
SETTING:
General community.
PARTICIPANTS:
Ten community-dwelling elderly (> 65 y) taking five or more regularly scheduled medications and participating in a university-based health service intervention study.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES:
Interrater reliability of MAI ratings of 65 medications made by two clinical pharmacists for individual items and for an overall summed score was calculated by use of κ statistics and intraclass correlation coefficient.
RESULTS:
The interrater agreement for each of the individual MAI items was high for both appropriate and inappropriate ratings and ranged from 80% to 100% (overall κ = 0.64). Overall agreement for the summed score was good (intraclass correlation = 0.80).
CONCLUSIONS:
The modified MAI is a reliable instrument for evaluation of medication appropriateness in a non-Veterans Affairs, ambulatory, elderly population and may provide pharmacists with a practical and standard method to evaluate patients' drug regimens and identify some potential drug-related problems.
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