Background: Potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs) for older adults are those with an unfavorable risk-benefit ratio when more effective and safe therapeutic alternatives are available. PIMs represent an important public health problem.
Aim: The study aimed to investigate the prevalence of PIM at admission and discharge identified by the Beers 2019 and 2015 criteria in older patients in China and to identify the correlates of PIMs.
Materials and methods: This was a cross-sectional study conducted in a tertiary hospital in China. Hospitalized patients in the internal medicine department aged ≥ 60 years were enrolled from June 2018 to October 2018. Information on medications at admission and discharge was collected and evaluated regarding PIMs using Beers 2019 and 2015 criteria. The concordance between PIM use according to Beers 2019 and 2015 criteria was calculated using κ tests. Multivariate logistic regressions were used to evaluate the factors associated with PIM use.
Results: Totally, 604 patients aged ≥ 60 years were included. The prevalence of PIM at admission was 53.3 and 55.0% according to the Beers 2015 and 2019 criteria, whereas the prevalence of PIM at discharge was 32.0 and 33.4% according to both criteria. The most frequent PIMs at admission and discharge were both diuretics according to the Beers 2019 criteria. PIMs at admission and discharge identified by the Beers 2019 criteria were both associated with the number of prescribed medications, acute heart failure, and chronic heart failure.
Conclusion: The Beers 2019 and 2015 criteria showed good accordance in our study.