Polypharmacy, potentially inappropriate prescribing and medication complexity in Turkish older patients in the community pharmacy setting

• Published in: Acta clinica belgica (English ed. Online) 2022-04, Vol.77 (2), p.273-279
• Main Authors: Sayın, Zeynep, Sancar, Mesut, Özen, Yasin, Okuyan, Betul
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aged; Chronic illnesses; Cross-Sectional Studies; Humans; Inappropriate Prescribing - prevention & control; Mass Screening; medication complexity; Pharmacies; pharmacist; Pharmacy; Pharmacy benefit management; Polypharmacy; Potentially inappropriate prescribing; potentially prescribing omission
• ISSN: 1784-3286; 2295-3337
• DOI: 10.1080/17843286.2020.1829251

This study aimed to evaluate polypharmacy, potentially inappropriate prescribing (PIP) and medication complexity in Turkish older patients in the community pharmacy setting and to determine the factors associated with PIP. This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in the community pharmacy setting in Istanbul. Older patients (≥65 years old) who chronically used at least one medication and visited the community pharmacy for any reason in the past 4 months were invited in this study. PIP was determined by using the Ghent Older People's Prescriptions Community Pharmacy Screening (GheOP 3 S)-tool. The Turkish version of the Medication Regimen Complexity Index (MRCI) was used to determine medication complexity. Polypharmacy (defined as the concurrent use of five or more medications) was found in 69.0% of 158 patients. A total of 398 PIPs were detected and 83.5% (n = 132) of older patients had at least one PIP. The median (IQR) MRCI score was 12.5 (7.0-19.6). The factors associated with having ≥2 PIP were advanced age (≥75 years old) (OR = 2.87, 95% CI 1.41-5.81; p