[Appropriate medication prescribing in older people]

Rev Med Interne. 2015 Oct;36(10):677-89. doi: 10.1016/j.revmed.2015.03.016. Epub 2015 May 21.
[Article in French]

Abstract

Drug-induced adverse effects are one of the main avoidable causes of hospitalization in older people. Numerous lists of potentially inappropriate medications for older people have been published, as national and international guidelines for appropriate prescribing in numerous diseases and for different age categories. The present review describes the general rules for an appropriate prescribing in older people and summarizes, for the main conditions encountered in older people, medications that are too often under-prescribed, the precautions of use of the main drugs that induce adverse effects, and drugs for which the benefit to risk ratio is unfavourable in older people. All these data are assembled in educational tables designed to be printed in a practical pocket format and used in daily practice by prescribers, whether physicians, surgeons or pharmacists.

Keywords: Drug; Drug adverse effect; Effet indésirable médicamenteux; Médicament; Older people; Sujet âgé.

Publication types

  • English Abstract
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Age Factors
  • Aged*
  • Aged, 80 and over
  • Drug Prescriptions* / standards
  • Drug Prescriptions* / statistics & numerical data
  • Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions / epidemiology
  • Humans
  • Inappropriate Prescribing / prevention & control
  • Inappropriate Prescribing / statistics & numerical data
  • Medication Errors / prevention & control
  • Medication Errors / statistics & numerical data
  • Practice Patterns, Physicians'* / statistics & numerical data