Abstract

Background: Polypharmacy is common and increasing among geriatric patients. Polypharmacy has been strongly associated with drug-drug interactions (DDIs). Polypharmacy and DDIs represent potential health hazards for the elderly. Aim and
Objective: This study aims to analyze the polypharmacy and associated potential DDIs (pDDIs) among geriatric patients.
Materials and Methods: A total of 484 geriatric (age ≥65 years) patients, who have fulfilled the selection criteria, were included in the study. Polypharmacy was assessed from prescriptions. pDDI was assessed using computer-based checks online available on the internet.
Results: A total of 111 patients (22.93%) were prescribed ≥6 drugs simultaneously – polypharmacy. Six patients were prescribed ≥10 drugs (hyperpolypharmacy) simultaneously. A total of 191 (39.46%) prescriptions have at least one pDDI – 98 (20.24%) prescriptions, 63 (13.02%) prescriptions, and 30 (6.20%) prescriptions have 1–2 pDDI, 3–5 pDDI, and ≥6 pDDI, respectively, with total pDDIs were 578. The statistically significant association has been found between the polypharmacy and pDDI (