Drug utilization review among geriatric patients at primary care setting

Definition of geriatric population or elderly people as those people aged more than 60 years old that undergo aging process. Changes in both pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics is more pronounced in patients exposed to multiple drugs consumption due to multiple diseases, adverse drug reaction ( ADRs) and potentially inappropriate medication (PIMs), which contribute to the reasons for hospitalisation. Potentially inappropriate medication (PIMs) can be identified by using the drug utilization research (DUR). DUR is used to assess the rationality of medicine use, which is beneficial in elderly and allows insight on how drugs are being used compared to current recommendation or guidelines. The objective of this study was to investigate the medication prescribed to elderly patients at primary care setting. This was a retrospective medical records review study. The utilized medications were assessed and identified from electronic Clinic Management System (eCMS) from 1 January 2013 until 31 December 2013. Define daily dose (DOD) per 1,000 inhabitants per day calculated to provide rough estimation of geriatric population receiving standard treatment on a daily basis. List of utilized medications and potentially inappropriate medication was listed. 200 patients were eligible for the final analysis. By using eCMS database, its showed that 2843 medications were prescribed to geriatric patients attending the health clinic in Klang district from January 2013 until December 2013. Out of 200 patients, female has higher percentage than male with 59% female versus 41% male. Most of the patients were Malay, accompany by Chinese and India. The percentage as per distribution was 49.50%, 30% and 20.50% respectively.