Potentially inappropriate medications at admission among elderly patients transported to a tertiary emergency medical institution in Japan

Abstract

Aim Potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs) have been reported to be associated with lower adherence, higher rates of adverse events, and higher health‐care costs in elderly patients with high comorbidity. However, inappropriate prescribing has not been adequately reported in studies of patients transported to tertiary care hospitals. In this study, we investigated PIMs at the time of admission, on the basis of the prescription status of elderly patients admitted to a tertiary emergency room (ER). Methods We included 316 patients (168 men and 148 women, aged 75–97 years) who were admitted to our ER from September 2018 to August 2019, whose prescriptions were available on admission. Drugs that met the Screening Tool of Older Persons' Potentially Inappropriate Prescriptions (STOPP) criteria version 2 were defined as PIMs. The primary outcome was the proportion of older adults taking at least one PIM at admission. Results The proportion of patients taking PIMs at admission was 57% ( n = 179). The most common PIMs were benzodiazepines, proton pump inhibitors, and nonsteroidal anti‐inflammatory drugs. The total number of medications prescribed at admission, prescriptions from multiple institutions, and prescriptions from clinics were the risk factors for PIMs at admission ( P < 0.01, P < 0.001, and P < 0.001, respectively). Conclusion We must be careful to avoid inappropriate prescribing for patients transported to tertiary care hospitals who have numerous prescriptions at the time of admission, patients who receive prescriptions from multiple medical institutions, and patients who receive prescriptions from clinics.