Polypharmacy and the Use of Beers Criteria in Iranian Geriatric Patients: A Review of Published Literature

The senior population in Iran is growing, and polypharmacy is common among them. Certain drugs are considered inappropriate in eldelrly due to age related changes and awareness of clinicians in this area is crucial. The Beers criteria is the most evidence based reference for proper drug selection in geriatric patients. This study reviews the scholarly articles published in English or Farsi that had studied potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs) according to beers criteria and polypharmacy in the Iranian geriatric population. By searching Pubmed, Scopus and Google scholar databases from 1989-2016, all studies in Farsi or English with key terms polypharmacy, drug-drug interactions, Beers, medication, drug, prescribing, older adult, geriatric, elderly, aging, pharmacotherapy, persian and Iran were evaluated. 11 studies were found: 5 studies on polypharmacy, 3 studies on polypharmacy and PIMs, one study on PIMs, one study on drug drug interactions and PIMs, and only one study on polypharmacy, PIMs and drug-drug interactions. The majority of these studies were published in Farsi (8 articles). The oldest found article was conducted in 2005 and the most recent published study was in 2016. Studies in aging population in Iran are very few. This growing patient group with the highest number of drug consumption seems to be under-researched in Iran.