Potentially inappropriate medications in Chinese older outpatients in tertiary hospitals according to Beers criteria: A cross-sectional study.

OBJECTIVES

Multimorbidity and polypharmacy in older adults always increase the prevalence of potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs) and affect the quality of life of older adults. Currently, the data of PIMs on Chinese geriatric outpatients based on Beers criteria 2015 and 2019 have not been studied. The purposes of this study were aimed to investigate the prevalence of PIMs prescription and the most frequent PIMs amongst outpatients according to the two criteria and to explore related risk factors for PIMs.

METHODS

The cross-sectional retrospective study was conducted amongst geriatric outpatients in Chengdu in tertiary hospitals from January 2018 to December 2018. The Beers criteria 2015 and 2019 were used to assess PIMs in geriatric outpatients. Univariate analysis and multivariate logistic regression analysis were adopted to determine the factors that may affect the prevalence of PIMs.

RESULTS

A total of 12 005 patient prescriptions were enrolled. The prevalence of PIMs in the Beers criteria 2015 and 2019 was 30.98% and 34.39%, respectively. Benzodiazepines, diuretics and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) were the most frequent PIMs used according to both criteria. Logistic regression analysis showed that patients with female, advanced age, polypharmacy and sleep disorder were the most important factors associated with PIMs use.

CONCLUSION

The results showed a high prevalence of PIMs amongst geriatric outpatients in China. The Beers criteria 2019 had a higher detection rate of PIMs, and it was more sensitive to assess the Chinese geriatric population.