The aim of the study is to find out the prevalence of irrational polypharmacy in the prescriptions bought to the community pharmacy. Further the study is designed to find out the potential drug –drug interactions and inappropriate medications prescribed. The study utilized a prospective cross -sectional survey. A copy of the prescription was taken after obtaining the oral consent from the elderly subjects and the data collected was entered into the data collection forms. Each prescription was then analyzed for prevalence and types of polypharmacy, potential drug-drug interactions using Micromedex, inappropriate medications prescribed by employing AGS Beers Criteria. The potential drug –drug interactions were further classified based on severity as Major, Moderate and Minor. The study population was further categorized based on age into two groups: Pre-geriatric (60-64 years) and Geriatric (>65 years) to draw a comparison between the two groups. Among the total number of prescriptions (n=226) which were analyzed, majority of the prescriptions showed moderate to major polypharmacy (n=185) and a total of 84 drug interactions were observed. The study shows that the risk of polypharmacy increases with increase in age. The study revealed that the prevalence of polypharmacy, potential drug–drug interactions and the inappropriate medication was higher in males when compared to female population. The study shows the importance of developing tools to identify inappropriate prescribing patterns in the pre-geriatric group as they are also at an increased risk of inappropriate medication use. Study also helps in defining the role of a pharmacist in preventing irrational polypharmacy in these vulnerable populations.

Index Terms- Polypharmacy, Drug-drug interactions, Elderly, Potentially inappropriate medications, India