ASSESSMENT OF POTENTIALLY INNAPPROPRIATE MEDICATION IN OLDER ADULTS USING UPDATED AGS BEER'S CRITERIA IN TERTIORY CARE HOSPITAL

Purpose of the study: Drug safety among the elderly population is a major problem that requires close attention in clinical practice. Older population is at highly susceptible to ADRs due to their physiological changes, co-morbidity and polypharmacy associated with it. The AGS Beers criteria consists of a list of drugs that are potentially inappropriate among the elderly patients. This information can be used as a powerful tool for healthcare professionals to prescribe safe and effective drugs to the geriatric patients. Method of study: A prospective observational study was conducted over a period of 6 months in a tertiary care hospital after obtaining ethical clearance from the Institutional Review Board. The Geriatric patients admitted to selected departments were enrolled in the study considering the study criteria. Results: PIMs were found in 69 (67.64%) prescriptions and the number of Inappropriate drugs found in the prescription was 113 drugs. The PIMs belonged to all the four categories of the criteria were, 57 (51.32%) drugs were from the category of drugs to be avoided, 40 (35.39%) drugs were the drugs listed under use with caution category, 1 (0.88%) drug-drug interactions were found, and the rest 14 (12.38%) drugs were from the category of drugs to be used with caution. Conclusion: The study report suggests that for the high rate of PIMs found in the prescriptions of the geriatric patients.