Use of potentially inappropriate medications may increase hospitalization risk

Potentially inappropriate medication use was linked with a 16% increased risk of hospitalization in a population-based study of elderly individuals.

The study followed more than one million adults for over a decade. Under a theoretical scenario with zero exposures to potentially inappropriate medications, 27,444 (1.7%) fewer hospitalizations would have occurred.

"Our robust study results corroborate existing evidence that exposure to inappropriate medications in the elderly is associated with negative health outcomes. As such, reducing inappropriate medication use in this vulnerable population is of paramount importance for patients, clinicians, and the health care system in order to enhance quality of life in older patients while decreasing the economic consequences of potentially preventable hospitalizations," said Dr. Vittorio Maio, senior author of the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology study.

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