Study of Non-Appropriate Medications Among Elderly Patients in Hospitals Affiliated with IUMS Using The STOPP Screening Tool in 2013

Abstract

Background: The use of inappropriate medications in the elderly is an important issue in the health care system. This issue can increase the side effects and the costs. This study aimed to investigate the prescribing of inappropriate medications in elderly patients. Materials & Methods: In this cross- sectional study, 400 elderly people were selected by simple random sampling at four teaching and non- teaching in hospitals affiliated with IUMS during six months of the 2013 year. The data was collected from the profiles of hospitalization of patients and check lists of STOPP criteria and was analyzed using the chi- square test, Mann- Whitney, Spearman correlation coefficients and Kolmogorov- Smirnov. Results: The mean age of the elderly was 73.4 year. The total number of prescribed drugs for studied patients was 4744 of which at least 124(31.1 Percent) inappropriate medication was prescribed for a patient. According to STOPP criteria, most inappropriate prescriptions were in the non- teaching hospitals related to drug classes Benzodiazepine (13.1 Percent) and Long-acting metabolites (6.2 Percent) and the teaching hospitals Benzodiazepine (9 Percent) and Anti-diabetic (2.7 Percent).Prescribed inappropriate drugs have had a significant relationship with the type of hospitalization section and the length of patients’ residence in the teaching hospitals while the number of inappropriate drugs prescribed was increased as the number of diseases of the elderly in non- teaching hospitals was increased significantly. Discussion: The rate of prescribing inappropriate medications among nursing was not considered in good standing. It seems that the introduction of screening tools can improve the accuracy of medication administration and physician partners and in addition to improving the quality of prescribing in the elderly it is required to design a comprehensive instruction for the country