title: Frequency of inappropriate drugs in primary care: analysis of a sample of immobile patients who received periodic home visits.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  drug intake is associated with the risk of drug-related problems (DRPs), e.g. the intake of PIM.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  the proportion of potentially inappropriate medication (PIM) taken by elderly people was analysed.
  
  
  METHODS
  community-based, prospective cohort study.
  
  
  METHODS
  ambulatory health-care sector in a German rural area.
  
  
  METHODS
  seven hundred and forty-four patients with age >65 years and regular intake of drugs.
  
  
  METHODS
  comprehensive home medication review (HMR) provided by specially qualified assistants of GP practices using electronic case reporting forms (eCRFs), and GP's diagnoses were extracted from patients' health records. Updated Beers' list of Fick et al. was used to detect PIM for patients >65 years and drug-condition interaction.
  
  
  RESULTS
  a total of 18% (n= 134) of the patients received 163 inappropriate drugs. Out of these drugs, most prevalent PIM were benzodiazepine derivates (n= 45). Out of all drugs, 25 drug-condition interactions were identified. The intake of PIM was slightly associated with self-reported falls (: 0.1074; P= 0.0244). Multivariate logistic regression showed significant results for the number of taken substances (OR = 1.176; 95% CI 1.121-1.234, P< 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  a high proportion of patients taking PIM in a community-based setting were investigated. Statistical associations with self-reported falls were found. Confounding may influence data. Further research to investigate findings is needed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology of Health Care and Community Health, Ernst Moritz Arndt University of Greifswald, Ellernholzstr, Germany. thomas.fiss@uni-greifswald.de
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fiss
authors.forename: Adina
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dreier
authors.forename: Claudia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Meinke
authors.forename: Neeltje
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: van den Berg
authors.forename: Christoph Alexander
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Ritter
authors.forename: Wolfgang
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Hoffmann
mesh_terms: D000058:Accidental Falls / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000553:Ambulatory Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D001569:Benzodiazepines; D015331:Cohort Studies; D000075202:Contraindications; D004347:Drug Interactions; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006792:House Calls / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D057970:Inappropriate Prescribing / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008508:Medication Errors / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D051346:Mobility Limitation; D010045:Outpatients / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011320:Primary Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012424:Rural Population
chemical_list: D001569:Benzodiazepines