Are potentially inappropriate and anticholinergic medications being prescribed for institutionalized elderly subjects?

The PAAPI project (Optimising Inappropriate Prescriptions in the Elderly) is a multi-disciplinary approach put in place by the Toulouse Pharmacovigilance Centre (CRPV) in order to improve drug prescribing practice in nursing homes. The aim of this study was to analyse the association between polypharmacy, frequency of prescriptions for potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs) and the anticholinergic burden of prescriptions in elderly patients from the PAAPI cohort. We carried out a retrospective study on residents of 24 nursing homes (EHPAD) participating in the PAAPI programme between 1er January 2017 and 31 December. Resident's Data were collected in a single review in a random day. Drug prescriptions were analysed quantitatively and qualitatively. PIMs and anticholinergic drugs were identified by the list EU(7)PIM and the Duran scale, respectively. The total anticholinergic burden was calculated by adding the anticholinergic scores of each drug. We classified the drugs into three categories: no anticholinergic burden (burden = 0), low anticholinergic burden (≥1 ≤ 3) or high anticholinergic burden (burden > 3). A total of 1191 residents living were included, and we analysed 8869 drug prescription lines. The average age of the residents was 87.0 ± 8.3 years, and the majority (71.5%) were female. Nearly half of the residents (49.6%, n = 67) having a prescription with a high anticholinergic burden were taking more than 9 drugs (Fisher exact test P < 0.05). All the prescriptions with more than 5 PIMs (n = 23) had an anticholinergic burden > 0, with the majority (65.2%, n = 15) having a high anticholinergic burden (Kruskal-Wallis test, P < 0.0001). In this cohort, 88% (n = 539) of prescriptions with a low anticholinergic burden and 100% (n = 135) of prescriptions with a high anticholinergic burden included at least one PIM. According to our study, the anticholinergic burden of prescriptions given to residents in the PAAPI cohort is associated with the prescription of PIMs and with polypharmacy. Optimizing the use of medicines remains essential in this population, given the harmful properties of these drugs. It would also be useful for the list of anticholinergic drugs to be updated as new medicines come onto the market.