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POTENTIALLY INAPPROPRIATE MEDICATIONS USE IN ELDERLY HOME CARE PATIENTS

CENK AYPAK 1 ; DERYA AKBIYIK 1 ; HULYA YIKILKAN 1 ; OGUZHAN TEZCAN 2 ; SULEYMAN GORPELIOGLU 1
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Introduction and Objective: Elderly home care patients are vulnerable to potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs) use due to multiple chronic diseases and multiple medications. The aim of this study is to identify the rate of polypharmacy and prevelance of PIM use among elderly home care patients. Method: This analysis included 429 patients aged 65 years and older who received home health care service from Dışkapı Yıldırım Beyazıt Training and Research Hospital in 2015. Data was obtained from patients’ medical files. PIMs were identified according to 2012 Beers criteria and STOPP/START criteria version 2. Results and Conclusion:The most common five diseases were HT (%68.5), cerebrovascular event (%32.4), DM (%28.7), hemiplegia (%27.0) and alzheimer’s disease-demantia (%26.1), respectively. Polypharmacy was recorded in 56.7% of all patients. According to the Beers and STOPP/START criterion, there were 156 (%36.4) and 202 (%47.1) patients with at least one PIM, respectively. The most prevalent PIMs detected by the Beers criteria were antipsychotics (38.0%), NSAIDs (11.8%), antispasmodics (8.5%), alpha blockers (8.1%) and non-dihydropyridine calcium channel blockers (7.4%). As for the STOPP/START criteria, they were antipsychotics (22.3%), acetylsalicylic acid (11.5%), anticholinergics (8.1%), proton pump inhibitors (7.0%) and loop diuretics (4.5%), respectively. A higher prevalence rate of PIMs was detected using the STOPP/START criteria than with Beers criteria (p=0.001). The agreement for PIM detection between two criteria was moderate. The high rate of polypharmacy and PIM found in our study point out the need for usage of PIM detection criteria more widely especially for assessment of geriatric home care patients.