Potentially inappropriate medicines in a cohort of community‐dwelling older people in N ew Z ealand

Aim To examine independent factors associated with potentially inappropriate medicines ( PIM ) among 316 community‐dwelling people aged ≥75 years living in D unedin. Methods People aged ≥75 years living in the community in D unedin, N ew Z ealand, taking ≥1 prescription medicines, randomly sampled from the electoral roll, were interviewed about their medicine‐taking practices. A medication inventory comprising prescription and non‐prescription medicines was taken from each participant at the time of the interview. Participants used a median of seven prescription medicines (range 1–19) and one non‐prescription medicine (0–14). PIM were identified using the updated 2012 B eers criteria. Results PIM were identified in 42.7% ( n  = 135) older people. A total of 23 (7.2%) took two PIM , five (1.5%) took three PIM , four (1.2%) took four PIM and one (0.3%) took five PIM . Of the 184 total PIM identified, the top three drug classes were non‐ COX ‐selective non‐steroidal anti‐inflammatory drugs (24.0%), tricyclic antidepressants (16.8%) and benzodiazepines (14.6%). Polypharmacy (adjusted odds ratio [ OR ] 2.06, 95% confidence interval [ CI ] 1.03–4.12) and the use of any psychotropic drug use ( OR 22.05, 95% CI 5.80–83.84) were associated with PIM exposure. In the Poisson regression model, the risk of taking a PIM significantly decreased with age ( OR 0.95, CI 0.91–0.99) and increased as the number of drugs prescribed increased ( OR 1.11, CI 1.08–1.15). Conclusion The prevalence of PIM is relatively high in community‐dwelling older people aged ≥75 years living in N ew Z ealand. PIM defined by the B eers criteria might be a useful initial screening tool, before efforts to stop unsafe medication use or replace with safer alternatives are initiated. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2014; 14: 89–93.