IDENTIFICATION OF MEDICATION DISCREPANCIES AND POTENTIALLY INADEQUATE PRESCRIPTIONS IN ELDERLY ADULTS WITH POLYPHARMACY

Introduction: medication reconciliation is the process of comparing the documented prescriptions in medical records with those actually consumed by the patients. Potentially inadequate prescriptions (PIP) are those significantly associated with adverse drug events. Objectives: 1) to describe the frequency and type of medication discrepancies through medication reconciliation 2) to describe the frequency of PIP. Methods: in a cross-sectional study of randomly selected elderly people (>65 yo) with more than 10 medications recorded in their electronic medical record (EMR), structured telephone interviews were performed in order to identify medications discrepancies and PIP. STOPP criteria were used to identify the latter. Results: out of 214 randomly selected individuals 150 accepted to participate (70%). 85% were women (52% widows) and the average age was 78 yo. The average number of medications referred to be consumed by patients was 9.1 (CI 95% 8.6-9.6), and the average number of prescribed medications in their EMR was 13.9 (CI 95% 13.3-14.5). 99% had at least one discrepancy (total 1252 discrepancies); 46% consumed at least one prescription not documented in their EMR and 93% did not consume at least one of the prescriptions documented in their EMR. In 77% of the patients a PIP was detected (total 186), 87% of them were at least within one of the following categories: prolonged used of benzodiazepines or proton pump inhibitors and the use of aspirin for the primary prevention of cardiovascular disease. Conclusions: there is a high prevalence of medication discrepancies and PIP within the community of elderly adults affiliated to a Private University Hospital.