INAPPROPRIATENESS IN PRESCRIPTION AMONG THE GERIATRICS PATIENTS: Assessing Potentially Inappropriate Medication Use Among Geriatric Patients

With nearly, 7.7% of the Indian population being geriatrics polypharmacy and inappropriate prescribing poses a challenge to tackle the erratic use of medication for the elderly, in the treatment of their one or many underlying conditions. The prescription of multiple medications could lead to the rise of ADRs during the treatment period. To prevent the rise of such potential conditions, prescription screening tools such as START (Screening Tool to Alert Right Treatment) and STOPP (Screening Tool of Older Persons Prescription) are used to alert PIM`s and optimize therapy.The aim of the study was to understand the prevalence of polypharmacy and potentially inappropriate prescription and medication use in the geriatric population. Using the START/STOPP screening tools.Present prospective observational study was conducted using the case sheets of 166 patients older than 65 years (51.8% male) (48.1% female). The 916 medications within all the cases were screened for Potentially inappropriate medications using the START/STOPP screening tool.