Evaluation of Appropriateness in Prescription of Geriatric Population in Residents of Old Age Homes in District Headquarters

Elderly population use many drugs and physiological changes make them more vulnerable to effects. Correct drug prescribing in the elderly is a laborious task, different tools to assess appropriateness of prescription in geriatric include Beer’s criteria, STOPP criteria and START criteria. Objective of the study was to evaluate and assess polypharmacy and appropriateness in prescription. A cross sectional study was carried out for a period of 6 months to assess polypharmacy and medication appropriateness in the residents of old age homes. Patients of both sex above 60 years of age, with atleast one chronic illness were included. Polypharmacy was present in 57% prescriptions, 46% patients were on at least one PIM as per Beers criteria, and total of 24 prescriptions had 28 inappropriate medications as per STOPP criteria. According to START criteria 31 prescribing omissions was found from 27 inappropriate prescriptions. Polypharmacy and PIM are highly prevalent in geriatric population, which has a major health care outcome. Standard criteria should be considered before prescribing the medications in geriatric population. In the present study an effort has been made to evaluate prescription for its inappropriateness by using BEERs, STOPP, and START criteria, which should be strictly implemented in routine clinical practice.