Potentially inappropriate prescriptions for elderly people taking antidepressant: comparative tools

BMC Geriatrics

Research Article

Izabela Fulone¹  Luciane Cruz Lopes¹ 

[1] Pharmaceutical Sciences Post graduate Course, University of Sorocaba, UNISO, Rodovia Raposo Tavares, KM 92,5, ZIP Code 18023-000, Sorocaba, São Paulo, Brazil;

关键词: Elderly;    Psychotropic drugs;    Antidepressants;    Screening tool;    Inappropriate medications;    Potentially;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12877-017-0674-2

 received in 2017-01-14, accepted in 2017-11-23,  发布年份 2017

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundThe use of psychotropic drugs by elderly people is widely spread around the world, given that prevalence of inappropriate medication is frequent. Strictly speaking, in Brazil, the vulnerable population of elderly people is more likely to use Potentially Inappropriate Psychotropic (PIP) due to the impact of social-economic characteristics, to the Brazilian Public Health System, and to the lack of patient monitoring. However, neither the use pattern nor the prevalence rate of PIP have been studied in Brazil so far. The objectives of this study were to determine the prevalence of PIP in elderly outpatients taking antidepressants, and to compare the performance of two different tools (Beers, STOPP).MethodsThis cross-sectional study involved all the aged outpatients (≥ 60 years of age) taking antidepressants attended by the public health system in a city of the State of São Paulo, Brazil. Data were obtained from a pharmacy database and medical records. All psychotropic drugs evaluated included: antidepressants, antipsychotics, anti-epileptics and benzodiazepines. STOPP and Beers criteria were applied to detect PIP.ResultsOne thousand one hundred forty prescriptions from 174 outpatients were subjected to two different screening tools. The average patient age was 67 (interquartile range 63–74) and the median number of drugs used was 3.0 (interquartile 2–4) per patient. The overall prevalence of PIP was 121 (69.5%). The levels of PIP observed according to tools were 39.6% (STOPP) and 29.9% (Beers).The long-term use of benzodiazepines was the most common PIP recognized, and the one which contributed more significantly to higher levels of PIP than other medications.ConclusionsThe prevalence of PIP was high among the elderly. STOPP criteria identified more PIP than Beers criteria. Knowledge of PIP prevalence should gear efforts to reduce the level of inappropriate prescriptions and may provide the need for developing national criteria.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s). 2017