Prescriptions for Potentially Inappropriate Medications from the Beers Criteria Among Older Adults Hospitalized for Heart Failure. Academic Article uri icon

Overview

abstract

  • BACKGROUND: We sought to better understand patterns of potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs) from the Beers criteria among older adults hospitalized with heart failure (HF). This observational study of hospitalizations was derived from the geographically diverse REasons for Geographic and Racial Differences in Stroke cohort. METHODS AND RESULTS: We examined participants aged 65 years and older with an expert-adjudicated hospitalization for HF. The Beers criteria medications were abstracted from medical records. The prevalence of PIMs was 61.1% at admission and 64.0% at discharge. Participants were taking a median of 1 PIM (interquartile range [IQR] 0-1 PIM) at hospital admission and a median of 1 PIM (IQR 0-2 PIM) at hospital discharge. Between admission and discharge, 19.1% of patients experienced an increase in the number of PIMs, 15.1% experienced a decrease, and 37% remained on the same number between hospital admission and discharge. The medications with the greatest increase from admission to discharge were proton pump inhibitors (32.6% to 38.6%) and amiodarone (6.2% to 12.2%). The strongest determinant of potentially harmful prescribing patterns was polypharmacy (relative risk 1.34, 95% confidence interval 1.16-1.55, P < .001). CONCLUSIONS: PIMs are common among older adults hospitalized for HF and may be an important target to improve outcomes in this vulnerable population.

publication date

  • November 21, 2021

Research

keywords

  • Heart Failure
  • Potentially Inappropriate Medication List

Identity

PubMed Central ID

  • PMC9344978

Scopus Document Identifier

  • 85121909107

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1016/j.cardfail.2021.11.014

PubMed ID

  • 34818566

Additional Document Info

volume

  • 28

issue

  • 6