Inappropriate drug use in the elderly outpatient population in a West-African metropolitan community

OBJECTIVE: Most studies investigating drug use patterns in the elderly have evaluated the prescribers' behavior with little focus on the target population who consume the drugs. This is a community-based study to evaluate drug use patterns in the elderly, a special population because of the high risk of adverse drug reactions including drug hypersensitivity syndrome, which is associated with a higher mortality in this population. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A house-to-house survey was carried out, and drug use was determined by interviewing respondents using a questionnaire. The study population included adults aged 60 years and above. RESULTS: A total of 270 respondents were interviewed. The majority (88.1%) had at least one chronic medical disorder. Hypertension was the most common disease. Multimorbidity and polypharmacy were uncommon in this population. Approximately half (46.4%) of the respondents with chronic diseases were either not on treatment (14.5%) or were on inappropriate drugs and/or drug combinations (31.9%). Of these, 5.1% were on potentially inappropriate medications judging from the Beers Criteria. Inappropriate drug combinations observed in this study included an inappropriate drug for the disease diagnosed, inadvertent use of two different brands of the same drug as two drugs, combining two drugs from the same class, or inappropriate drug class combination among hypertensive patients. Aspirin was the most commonly used drug, some hypertensive patients were taking aspirin without being on concomitant antihypertensive drugs. CONCLUSION: Contrary to reports of polypharmacy, inappropriate drug combinations and a high rate of aspirin use were prominent in the population studied.
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