Two in three seniors leave the hospital with new drug prescriptions that increase the odds of experiencing an adverse drug event, according to a Canadian study.
Investigators tracked the number of potentially inappropriate medications prescribed to patients at discharge and any link to adverse events within 30 days. They followed more than 2,400 patients from internal medicine, cardiac, and thoracic surgery, aged 65 years and older.
About 66% of patients were prescribed potentially inappropriate medications. The most commonly prescribed medicines included benzodiazepines (tranquilizers such as Xanax) and proton pump inhibitors, used to treat acid reflux.
While it is not surprising that potentially inappropriate medications are tied to increased risk, there is merit in a full assessment of all medications so that these prescriptions don’t follow at‐risk older adults into the community, wrote Daniala L. Weir, Ph.D., and colleagues.
Results were adjusted for severity of health status, other medications prescribed at discharge, and whether the newly prescribed medications had been filled.
Full findings were published Tuesday in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
