Prevalence of inappropriate medication prescription in the elderly in Nigeria: A comparison of Beers and STOPP criteria.
BACKGROUND
Inappropriate medication prescription among the elderly is a major problem with significant negative health consequences. The Beers and STOPP (Screening Tool of Older Persons' potentially inappropriate Prescription) criteria are common tools used for screening of potentially inappropriate medications. The primary objective of the study was to estimate the incidence of PIM among elderly Nigerian patients using the earlier mentioned tools.


METHODOLOGY
This prospective study was conducted among elderly patients attending the general outpatients' clinics of two tertiary healthcare institutions in the South-Western part of Nigeria. The patients' age, gender, diagnosis for which the patient was receiving treatment and prescribed drugs were the information retrieved from the medical records. The WHO drug use indicators were applied in the drug utilization aspect of the study while the Beers and STOPP criteria were used to define the inappropriateness or otherwise of the prescribed medications.


RESULTS
The mean number of drugs per prescription was 4.1 ± 1.2 while the median number of drugs prescribing by generic name was 46.5% (IQR: 35). Using Beers criteria for the assessment of prescription of potentially inappropriate medications, 106 (30.3%) of all patients had at least one inappropriate medication prescribed with a total of one hundred and twenty six cases recorded. Screening for PIM using the STOPP criteria, we found 55 (15.7%) of the study participants with at least one potential encounter. Female sex, number of prescribed medications and co-morbidities were positively associated with prescription of a PIM using both tools.


CONCLUSION
Prescription of PIM is highly prevalent among elderly Nigerian patients. There is a need for continuing education of prescribers on rational prescribing in the elderly using some of the screening tools.
['Fadare|Joseph O|JO|', 'Desalu|Olufemi O|OO|', 'Obimakinde|Abimbola M|AM|', 'Adeoti|Adekunle O|AO|', 'Agboola|Segun M|SM|', 'Aina|Felix O|FO|']
D000368:Aged D000704:Analysis of Variance D016009:Chi-Square Distribution D015897:Comorbidity D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies D005260:Female D006801:Humans D057970:Inappropriate Prescribing D015994:Incidence D008297:Male D015337:Multicenter Studies as Topic D009549:Nigeria D010044:Outpatient Clinics, Hospital D000067561:Potentially Inappropriate Medication List D015995:Prevalence D011446:Prospective Studies D017678:Sex Distribution
STOPP criteria Inappropriate prescription Beers criteria adverse drug reactions geriatric patients