Use of potentially inappropriate medications in institutionalized elderly: Prevalence and associated factors

Abstract

This study aimed to verify the prevalence of the use of Potentially Inappropriate Medications (PIM) for elderly living in Long-Term Care Institutions for the Elderly (LTCIE), as well as the types of medications and their associated factors. This is a cross-sectional study carried out in 10 LTCIEs in the city of Natal in the period Oc-tober-December 2013. Potentially inappropriate medications were classified according to the 2015 American Geriatric Society Beers Criteria for Potentially Inappropriate Medication Use in Older Adults-2015. Sociodemographic, LTCIE-related and health-related variables were considered. Univariate and multivariate analyses were per-formed between the primary variable (PIM use) and the independent variables using Poisson re-gression. The sample consisted of 321 older people, of whom 304 used medications. The prevalence of PIM use was 54.6% (95% CI: 48.9-60.2) and was associated with polypharmacy and dementia in the final model. The most common PIMs were antipsychotics and benzodiazepines. The study re-vealed a high prevalence of PIM use among the elderly of the LTCIEs, evidencing the need to adopt indicators on the use of these drugs and the im-plementation of strategies that make drug therapy safer and more adequate for older adults.