PharmacoEconomics & Outcomes News 662 - 15 Sep 2012

Elderly still receive inappropriateprescriptions

Elderly patients treated in primary care continue toreceive a relatively high number of inappropriatemedication prescriptions, report researchers from theNetherlands.

They conducted a systematic review of 19 studiesidentified by searching literature published between1950 and March 2012.

Overall, 20.0% of primary care medicationprescriptions to the elderly were inappropriate (range2.9%–38.5%). Rates were similar in studies conducted inthe US (19.6%) and the UK (19.1%). The medicationsmost frequently prescribed inappropriately weredextropropoxyphene (4.52%; range 0.10%–23.30%),doxazosin (3.96%; range 0.32%–15.70%),diphenhydramine (3.30%; range 0.02%–4.40%) andamitriptyline (3.20%; range 0.05%–20.5%). Of these,the risk of adverse events with diphenhydramine andamitriptyline was considered to be high, whereas theadverse event risk associated with doxazosin anddextropropoxyphene was classified as low.

The authors identified a need to "move towardsinterventions that can improve the quality of medicationprescriptions among the elderly in primary care such asemploying clinical decision support systems (CDSS)".Inappropriateness of Medication Prescriptions to Elderly Patients in the PrimaryCare Setting: A Systematic Review. PLoS One 7: No. 8, 28 Aug 2012. Availablefrom: URL: http://doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0043617 803076434

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PharmacoEconomics & Outcomes News 15 Sep 2012 No. 6621173-5503/10/0662-0001/$14.95 Adis © 2010 Springer International Publishing AG. All rights reserved