The frequency of potentially inappropriate medication usage in community-dwelling oldest-old people.

Background/aim: It is critically important to protect the health of the oldest-old people, as their hospitalization and death rates are high. The objective of this study was to analyze the prevalence of potentially inappropriate medication use among the community-dwelling oldest-old people and its association with their demographic characteristics.

Materials and methods: Data were collected from real-world settings using the observational method for this descriptive study. An older adult aged ≥ 85 years old was defined as the oldest-old. The participants were visited in their homes. The generic names of the medications used, and the age, sex, and province of residence were recorded. The medications were analyzed according to the 2019 Beers criteria, and their prevalence of use among the oldest-old people was determined.

Results: Data were collected from 549 of the oldest-old people. The median age of the participants was 88.0 years (88.8 ± 3.5; min = 85.0, max = 102), and 61.3% (n = 336) of them were female. The study findings showed that 65.0% of the community-dwelling oldest-old people used potentially inappropriate medications, with a median number of 1 (min = 0, max = 6). The prevalence of potentially inappropriate medication use increased linearly with the number of drugs used (p = 0.001). The median number of medications was significantly higher in the potentially inappropriate medication user group (5 vs. 2, p = 0.001). Diuretics, proton pump inhibitors, and nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs were the most frequently used potentially inappropriate medications.

Conclusion: The prevalence of potentially inappropriate medication use was high among the oldest-old people in Turkiye. There were no differences in frequency of use according to age, sex, or geographical region. It is important to prevent the use of potentially inappropriate medications that should be avoided and to monitor the oldest-old group that uses potentially inappropriate medications that should be used with caution.