The Prevalence of Beers Criteria Medication Use and Associations with Falls in Geriatric Patients at a Level 1 Trauma Center.

The Prevalence of Beers Criteria Medication Use and Associations with Falls in Geriatric Patients at a Level 1 Trauma Center. Am Surg. 2019 Aug 01;85(8):877-882 Authors: Walker BS, Collier BR, Bower KL, Lollar DI, Faulks ER, Matos M, Nussbaum MS, Hamill ME Abstract The Beers Criteria for Potentially Inappropriate Medication (PIM) use is a list of medications with multiple risks in older patients. Approximately 24 per cent use rate is reported in prior studies. Our objective was to determine the local PIM use and subsequent fall risk in geriatric trauma patients. We conducted a retrospective analysis of PIM use in all geriatric patients evaluated at our Level 1 trauma center between 2014 and 2017. Patients were identified from our trauma database. Pre-admission medication use was determined through medication reconciliation from our electronic medical record (EMR). Patients not undergoing medication reconciliation were excluded. After initial analysis, patients were stratified by age into three groups: 65 to 74, 75 to 84, and ≥85 years. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to calculate odds ratios of falls for specific PIMs. In all, 2181 patients met the inclusion criteria. Overall, 71.2 per cent of geriatric trauma patients were prescribed at least one PIM-73.1 per cent of falls compared with 68.6 per cent for other mechanisms. Specific PIM use varied by age group. PIMs associated with fall risk in all patients inclu...
Source: The American Surgeon - Category: Surgery Authors: Tags: Am Surg Source Type: research