Potentially Inappropriate Prescribing Determined by STOPP Criteria in Hospitalized Elderly Patients

초록

Potentially inappropriate prescribing (PIP) occurs frequently for elderly patients worldwide, which is known as a major cause of adverse drug events (ADEs). The purpose of this study was to identify and evaluate, based on Screening Tool of Older Person's Prescription (STOPP) criteria, the status of PIP in elderly patients aged 65 years or older who were hospitalized in a large academic tertiary care medical center. We analyzed medications by STOPP criteria that were prescribed to elderly patients aged 65 years or older during their hospital stay at a large academic tertiary care medical center from August 1 to September 30, 2012. During the study period, we found 308 PIPs in 1510 elderly patients aged 65 years of age or older. Of the 1510 patients, 245 (16.2%) were exposed to at least one PIP. Based on the 1079 elderly patients who were prescribed at least one medication listed in STOPP criteria, 22.7% of them were exposed to PIP. The most frequently occurring PIP was "proton pump inhibitor for peptic ulcer disease at full therapeutic dosage for over 8 weeks" with 54 occurrences (17.5%), and "any duplicate drug class prescription" and "regular opiates for more than 2 weeks in those with chronic constipation without concurrent use of laxatives", which occurred 53 (17.2%) and 46 (14.9%) times, respectively. A significant proportion of hospitalized elderly patients were exposed to PIP. PIP can lead to negative health outcomes such as ADEs. Therefore, proactive intervention of clinical pharmacists is required to prevent and reduce PIP.

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