Abstract
Objective: To determine the prevalence and predictors for inappropriate drug prescribing to hospitalized Indian elderly patients. Design: One year prospective study. Setting: All inpatient wards in the Department of General Medicine of a public teaching hospital. Participants: Inpatient 60 yrs or older (n=515). Measurements: Potentially inappropriate medication prescribing was identified by using the Modified Updated Beers Criteria 2003. Results: The average (±SEM) number of drugs prescribed was 7.0±0.09. As much as 18% (92 out of 515) of the patients received at least one or more drugs that was identified as inappropriate. Out of the total of 92 patients who received inappropriate drugs, the most common examples were the administration of anticoagulant therapy with Aspirin or Clopidogrel (27.2%), Amiodarone (15.2%), Digoxin (15.2%), and Promethazine (15.2%), followed by Amitriptyline (6.5%). The three important predictors for the inappropriate medication prescribing were age over 70 yrs, number of medications prescribed more than 5 and longer length of stay in the hospital. Conclusion: The results indicate that inappropriate drug prescribing is common among hospitalized Indian elderly patients. It is feasible to reduce this practice through provision of appropriate unbiased information to healthcare professional.
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