Prescribing issues
Prescribing issues (at least 1 PIM/PIP, PPO, and/or drug-drug
interaction) based on any criteria were identified in 80 patients
(87.9%).
According to the STOPP/START criteria, we observed the following: 65
patients (71.4%) had inappropriate prescriptions, with a mean (SD
[range]) of 1.27 (1.18 [0.00-6.00]) per subject; 45 patients
(49.5%) were taking at least 1 concomitant medication that had to be
stopped (PIP) (0.69 [0.85, 0.00-4.00] per patient); and 39 patients
(42.9%) should have been receiving 1 concomitant medication that they
were not receiving (PPO) (0.58 [0.79, 0.00-4.00] per patient).
According to the Beers criteria, 41 patients (45.1%) had at least 1 PIM
(0.78 [1.10, 0.00-5.00] per patient). The results are shown in
figure 1.
When both sets of criteria were compared, 56.9% of the cases in which a
prescription issue was detected by the STOPP/START criteria were also
detected by the Beers criteria, while 92.5% of the cases in which a
prescription issue was detected based on the Beers criteria were
detected by the STOPP/START criteria (p<0.001).
A total of 83 potentially relevant drug interactions (orange/red flags)
were found between ART and concomitant treatment in 41 patients
(45.1%), with a mean (SD [range]) of 0.93 (1.36 [0.00-6.00]);
of these, 3 were severe (red) in 2 patients (2.2%).