Costs of potentially inappropriate medication use in residential aged care facilities

BMC Geriatrics

Table 2 Number of participants prescribed potentially inappropriate medications over a 12 month period

PIM	All participants^a (n = 533), n %	Participants with cognitive impairment and dementia^b (n = 461), n (%)
Any PIM	434 (81.4)	375 (81.3)
Antidepressants	34 (6.4)	22 (4.8)
Antiemetic	n/a	26 (5.6)
Antihistamines^c	3 (0.6)	11 (2.4)
Anti-infective	27 (5.1)	24 (5.2)
Antimuscarinics	n/a	13 (2.8)
Antiparkinsonian agents	2 (0.4)	1 (0.2)
Antispasmodics	2 (0.4)	2 (0.4)
Antipsychotics	163 (30.6)	157 (34.1)
Antithrombotics	14 (2.6)	11 (2.4)
Benzodiazepines	202 (37.9)	166 (36.0)
Cardiovascular^d	40 (7.5)	35 (7.6)
Central alpha blockers	6 (1.1)	5 (1.1)
Endocrine	52 (9.8)	41 (8.9)
Gastrointestinal^e	51 (9.6)	42 (9.1)
H₂-receptor antagonists	n/a	12 (2.6)
Pain medications	29 (5.4)	24 (5.2)
Peripheral alpha-1 blockers	8 (1.5)	6 (1.3)
Proton-pump inhibitors	225 (42.2)	183 (39.7)

^aIncludes all study participants with complete medication data and PIMs were based on the standard list of PIMs from the Beers Criteria for all older adults
^bParticipants with cognitive impairment and dementia: sub-group analysis which only includes participants with a PAS-Cog score > 4 or a formal diagnosis of dementia and the PIMs were based on the standard list of PIMs from the Beers Criteria for all older adults and the additional list of PIMs from the Beers Criteria for people with cognitive impairment and dementia. ^cFirst generation antihistamines only considered for PIMs for older adults; ^ddigoxin, nifedipine and amiodarone; ^emetoclopramide

ISSN: 1471-2318