Abstract
Introduction : Elderly patients are the most common group who use heath care facilities. This study assesses the prevalence of polypharmacy and use of potentially inappropriate medications in elderly patients presenting to the geriatric clinic of a tertiary care hospital in Kerala for first time.
Materials and methods : The study was a hospital based retrospective study. The data from patients presenting to Geriatrics clinic from period of 1 st January 2016 to 31 st December 2016 were retrieved from the medical records and assessed for polypharmacy (taking >5 medications at a time) and potentially inappropriate drugs in accord with modified 2012 Beer’s criteria.
Results : A total of 275 patients were included in the study of which 110 (40%) were males and 165 (60%) were females. The prevalence of polypharmacy found to be 22.9%. 63 out of total 275 patients took more than 5 medications at a time. 81 (29.5%) out of 275 patients had at least one potentially inappropriate medication.
Conclusion : The prescription of potentially inappropriate medications is a serious problem which can affect overall quality of health care. Hence regular medication review and reconciliation practices should be implemented to prevent this to an extent.