A Prospective Study on Medication Prescribing Pattern for Geriatric Patients in a Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital

Background: Polypharmacy and inappropriate prescriptions are prominent prescribing issues with elderly patients.Beer's criteria and other guidelines have been developed to assist in the reduction of potentially inappropriate medications prescribed to elderly patients.

Objective: The present work was undertaken to study prescribing pattern of various drugs in elderly patients & also to evaluate inappropriate prescribing with the help of Beers criteria.

Materials & Methods: This is a prospective observational study conducted in Navodaya Medical College & Hospital from November 2014 to April 2015. A total of 400 case records of inpatients s65years in medical,sugery and orthopaedic wards were reviewed. Relevant information was recorded in a structured proforma & data was evaluated.

Results: Most of the cases were from respiratory system (28%), followed by cardiovascular system (18.75%). The most commonly prescribed drugs were antimicrobials (19.106%). Polypharmacy was observed in 344(83.5%) patients. According to Beers criteria, 256 drugs were prescribed inappropriately & all these drugs were to be generally avoided in older adults.

Conclusion: This study has shown the patterns of diseases prevalent in geriatric patients, drug use among them and also suggests that drugs to be avoided in elderly. Prevalence of polypharmacy was high which is usually unavoidable in the elderly.