Potentially Inappropriate Medications Defined by STOPP Criteria and the Risk of Adverse Drug Events in Older Hospitalized Patients

Abstract

Inappropriate medication use is highly prevalent among older people, particularly those presenting to a hospital with acute illness.^1,2 Certain drugs are considered inappropriate or potentially inappropriate in old age because of the higher risk of intolerance related to adverse pharmacodynamics or pharmacokinetics or drug-disease interactions. These observations have formed the basis for various sets of criteria for potentially inappropriate medication in older people, the best known of which is Beers criteria.^3-5 Beers criteria were developed in the United States and first published in 1991³ and subsequently revised in 1997⁶ and most recently in 2003.⁵