Medknow Publications on behalf of Indian Journal of Medical Sciences Trust
Abstract
Background : Adverse events (AEs) account for significant morbidity and
mortality in elderly. Inappropriate medication usage has been regarded
as an important factor contributing to AEs in them. Beers criteria are
a set of standard criteria for guiding drug prescription in elderly.
Objective : To estimate the burden of AEs in the elderly in India and
use of Beers criteria for assessing appropriateness of drug
prescription in them. Materials and Methods : Data on AEs collected by
our tertiary referral center for the years 2005 and 2006 was analyzed.
The term ′elderly individuals′ was defined as those aged
≥58 years. An AE was defined as any untoward medical occurrence
with a medicinal product in a patient or a clinical investigation,
whether or not causally related. Results : In 2005, 321 AEs were
reported, and in 2006 there were 673. Of them, those in the elderly
constituted 60 (18.9%) and 44 (11.8%) AEs in the 2 years, respectively.
About 7 (11.6%) of the AEs in elderly in 2005 were due to medications
not fulfilling Beers criteria but none in 2006. Two thirds of the AEs
in both years were found to be due to antidiabetics, oral
anticoagulants and antiplatelets and drugs with a narrow therapeutic
index. Warfarin, digoxin and insulin accounted for a quarter of the
AEs. Conclusions : Some commonly used medications account for a major
proportion of AEs in elderly. Prospective studies of similar nature
could further help us assess the burden of AEs in elderly