A study of older inpatients found different screening totals under two versions of the Beers criteria. Benzodiazepines were a prominent flagged category, but a flag was not a documented injury.
The analysis included 17,352 older inpatients with multimorbidity and polypharmacy. The proportion with at least one potentially inappropriate medication was 70.10% under the 2015 criteria and 72.54% under the 2019 criteria.
Benzodiazepines were among the frequently identified categories. The updated criteria also changed how some interactions and other medicines were classified.
A change in screening rules can change prevalence even when the underlying prescriptions are unchanged. Counts of flagged medications also have a different denominator from counts of patients.
The retrospective data lacked some detailed clinical and out-of-hospital information. The paper does not establish that every flagged prescription was negligent or caused harm. A patient-specific assessment still requires indication, alternatives, duration, concurrent medicines, and observed effects, while identifying which criteria version generated the original flag.
Original analysis of the supplied journal article, identified as PMC8506761.