Abstract
Introduction:
The number of older adults has been constantly growing around the world. Chronic disease occurrence and concurrency increase with age, and medication use rises correspondingly. The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines multi-morbidity as the “ co-occurrence of two or more chronic medical conditions in one patient.” The most commonly used definition of Polypharmacy is “taking co-currently five or more medications daily by an individual.” Polypharmacy is associated with increased mortality, falls, adverse drug reactions, hospital stay, readmission, and medication costs. STOPP (Screening Tool for Older Person’s Prescriptions) and START (Screening Tool to Alert to Right Treatment) criteria can be used for medication reconciliation in elderly patients. According to experts, STOPP/START criteria improves clinical outcome in multi-morbid elderly patients.
Methods:
A clinical audit was conducted among patients admitted to the elderly care ward over one month. The prescription at admission was reviewed with their medical history as part of medication reconciliation. STOPP/START criteria were applied manually for reviewing prescriptions.
Results:
Out of 60 patients, 23 were female, and 37 were male. The mean age of the population was 85 years. The prevalence of multi-morbidity was 88.3%. The prevalence of Polypharmacy is 90%. The number of Potential Inappropriate Medication prescriptions (PIM) was 52, and the Number of Potential Prescription Omissions (PPO) was 18.
Conclusions:
Prevalence of multi-morbidity and Polypharmacy is very high in our population. By applying STOPP/START criteria, PIMs and PPO can be identified and reduced. STOPP/START criteria can be used as a tool to reduce Polypharmacy in elderly people.