Potentially Inappropriate Medication Use in the Community-Dwelling Elderly

Abstract

Inappropriate medication use is a major patient safety concern, especially for the elderly population.^1-4 Researchers have documented widespread inappropriate medication use by elderly persons in hospitals,⁵ nursing homes,^6-8 board and care facilities,⁹ physician office practices,^10,11 hospital outpatient departments,¹² and homebound elderly,¹³ with the estimated prevalence of potentially inappropriate use ranging from 12% to 40%. Two prior studies examined inappropriate medication use in the community-dwelling elderly using population-based nationally representative surveys. Using the National Medical Expenditure Survey (NMES), Willcox et al¹⁴ estimated that 23.5% of the community-dwelling elderly in the United States (6.64 million people) used at least 1 of 20 inappropriate medications in 1987. Using the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey (MCBS), the General Accounting Office¹⁵ estimated that 17.5% (5.2 million) of the community-dwelling elderly used at least 1 of the same 20 inappropriate medications in 1992.