BACKGROUND With age, the number of chronic conditions increases along with the use of medications. For several years, polypharmacy has been found to be on the increase in western societies. Polypharmacy is associated with an increased risk of adverse drug events (ADE). Medications called potentially inappropriate medications (PIM) have also been found to increase the risk of ADEs in an older population. In this study, which we conducted during a national information campaign to reduce PIM, we analysed the prevalence of PIM in an older adult population and in different strata of the variables age, gender, number of chronic conditions and polypharmacy and how that prevalence changed over time. METHODS This is a registry-based repeated cross-sectional study including two cohorts. Individuals aged 75 or older listed at a primary care centre in Blekinge on the 31st March 2011 (cohort 1, 15,361 individuals) or on the 31st December 2013 (cohort 2, 15,945 individuals) were included in the respective cohorts. Using a chi2 test, the two cohorts were compared on the variables age, gender, number of chronic conditions and polypharmacy. Use of five or more medications at the same time was the definition for polypharmacy. RESULTS Use of PIM decreased from 10.60 to 7.04% (p-value < 0.001) between 2011 and 2013, while prevalence of five to seven chronic conditions increased from 20.55 to 23.66% (p-value < 0.001). Use of PIM decreased in all strata of the variables age, gender number of chronic conditions and polypharmacy. Except for age 80-84 and males, where it increased, prevalence of polypharmacy was stable in all strata of the variables. CONCLUSIONS Use of potentially inappropriate medications had decreased in all variables between 2011 and 2013; this shows the possibility to reduce PIM with a focused effort. Polypharmacy does not increase significantly compared to the rest of the population.

中文翻译：

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在老年人中使用可能不合适的药物和多药治疗：一项反复的横断面研究。

背景技术随着年龄的增长，慢性病的数量随着药物的使用而增加。几年来，已经发现西方社会越来越多地使用多药店。多元药房与药物不良事件（ADE）的风险增加相关。还发现被称为潜在不当药物（PIM）的药物会增加老年人口发生ADE的风险。在一项旨在减少PIM的全国性信息运动中进行的这项研究中，我们分析了PIM在老年人口中以及不同年龄，性别，慢性病和多药店变量的不同层次中的流行情况，以及该流行程度如何在时间。方法这是一项基于注册表的重复横断面研究，包括两个队列。2011年3月31日在Blekinge的初级保健中心列出的75岁或75岁以上的人群（1,15,361人）或2013年12月31日（2,15,945个人）被纳入相应的人群。使用chi2检验，比较了这两个队列的年龄，性别，慢性病数量和综合药房变量。多药房的定义是同时使用五种或更多药物。结果2011年至2013年间，PIM的使用率从10.60％下降至7.04％（p值<0.001），而五至七种慢性疾病的患病率从20.55％上升至23.66％（p值<0.001）。在年龄，慢性病的性别数量和多药店等变量的所有层次中，PIM的使用均下降。除了年龄在80-84岁的男性和男性，在所有变量层中，多元药房的患病率稳定。结论在2011年至2013年之间，所有变量中使用潜在不适当药物的人数均减少了。这表明可以集中精力降低PIM。与其他人群相比，多元药店的增长并不明显。