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. 2022 Mar 18;19(6):3612.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph19063612.

Potentially Inappropriate Prescribing among Elderly Outpatients: Evaluation of Temporal Trends 2012-2018 in Piedmont, Italy

Federica Galimberti  1 , Manuela Casula  1   2 , Lorenza Scotti  3 , Elena Olmastroni  2 , Daniela Ferrante  3 , Andrealuna Ucciero  3 , Elena Tragni  2 , Alberico Luigi Catapano  1   2 , Francesco Barone-Adesi  3
Affiliations

Potentially Inappropriate Prescribing among Elderly Outpatients: Evaluation of Temporal Trends 2012-2018 in Piedmont, Italy

Federica Galimberti et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Pharmacological intervention is one of the cornerstones in the treatment and prevention of disease in modern healthcare. However, a large number of drugs are often prescribed and used inappropriately, especially in elderly patients. We aimed at investigating the annual prevalence of potentially inappropriate prescriptions (PIPs) among older outpatients using administrative healthcare databases of the Piedmont Region (Italy) over a seven-year period (2012-2018). We included all Piedmont outpatients aged 65 years or older with at least one drug prescription per year. Polypharmacy and the prevalence of PIPs according to the ERD list explicit tool were measured on an annual basis. A range between 976,398 (in 2012) and 1,066,389 (in 2018) elderly were evaluated. Among them, the number of subjects with at least one PIP decreased from 418,537 in 2012 to 339,764 in 2018; the prevalence significantly reduced by ~25% over the study period. The stratified analyses by age groups and sex also confirmed the downward trend and identified several differences in the most prevalent inappropriately prescribed drugs. Overall, despite a reduction in PIP prevalence, one out of three older outpatients was still exposed to inappropriateness, highlighting the extensive need for intervention to improve prescribing.

Keywords: elderly; healthcare databases; potentially inappropriate prescribing; primary care.

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Conflict of interest statement

All authors declare no support from any organization for the submitted work; no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work. F.G., M.C., L.S., E.O., D.F., A.U., E.T., and F.B.-A. report no disclosures. A.L.C. received research funding and/or honoraria for advisory boards, consultancy, or speaker bureau from Aegerion, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly, Genzyme, Mediolanum, Merck or MSD, Pfizer, Recordati, Rottapharm, Sanofi-Regeneron, Sigma-Tau.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Prevalence of outpatients older than 65 years exposed to at least one potentially inappropriate prescription in Piedmont in the period 2012–2018.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Prevalence of exposure to at least one potentially inappropriate prescription among the drugs’ users by the sex of outpatients older than 65 years in Piedmont in the period 2012–2018.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Prevalence of exposure to at least one potentially inappropriate prescription among the drugs’ users by the age classes of outpatients older than 65 years in Piedmont in the period 2012–2018.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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