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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Med.
Sec. Geriatric Medicine
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fmed.2024.1403546

Potentially Inappropriate Prescribing in Elderly Patients with Epilepsy at Two Referral Hospitals in Ethiopia

Provisionally accepted
Tamrat A. Tadesse Tamrat A. Tadesse 1Alemu Belayneh Alemu Belayneh 1Minychel Aynalem Minychel Aynalem 2Yared M. Yifru Yared M. Yifru 3Firehiwot Amare Firehiwot Amare 1Dessale A. Beyene Dessale A. Beyene 4*
  • 1 Department of Pharmacology and Clinical Pharmacy, School of Pharmacy, College of Health Sciences, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
  • 2 All Africa Leprosy Tuberculosis and Rehabilitation Training Centre, Addis Ababa, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
  • 3 Department of Neurology, College of Health Sciences, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
  • 4 Debre Berhan University, Debre Berhan, Ethiopia

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The prevalence of drug therapy problems in patients with epilepsy has been reported to be as high as 70-90%. Moreover, elderly patients with epilepsy are highly vulnerable to inappropriate therapies. This study aimed to evaluate potentially inappropriate prescriptions (PIP) in elderly patients with epilepsy at the adult neurology clinics of two referral hospitals in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.: A cross-sectional study was conducted on 81 patients with epilepsy and the medication appropriateness index (MAI), the Beers, and Screening Tool of Older Persons' Prescriptions and Screening Tool to Alert to the Right Treatment (STOPP/START) criteria were used to assess PIP. Data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25.Results: Of the 81 study participants, 41(50.6%) were male, and the mean age was 67.33±17.43 years. One-fourth of the study participants (25.9%) had polypharmacy and drugdrug interactions (DDIs) were documented in 64 (79%) patients. Based on the MAI, of the 263 medications that were prescribed for elderly epileptic patients, 110 (41.8%) had drug interactions, 44 (16.7%) had inappropriate indications, 31 (11.8%) were ineffective, and 12 (4.6%) were prescribed incorrect doses. Based on the STOPP and START criteria, PIP was reported in 31(38.3%) and 13(16.1%) patients, respectively.: Polypharmacy and DDIs are common in elderly epilepsy patients. The MAI, Beer's criteria, and STOPP/START criteria indicate a high prevalence of PIP in elderly patients with epilepsy.

    Keywords: Epilepsy, Elderly, Potentially inappropriate prescribing, Polypharmacy, Ethiopia

    Received: 19 Mar 2024; Accepted: 12 Aug 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Tadesse, Belayneh, Aynalem, Yifru, Amare and Beyene. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Dessale A. Beyene, Debre Berhan University, Debre Berhan, Ethiopia

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