American Geriatrics Society-Beers Criteria and adverse drug reactions: a comparative cross-sectional study of Nigerian and South African older inpatients

BACKGROUND: The Beers Criteria were developed with the aim of improving the safety of medicines among older persons. While the association between the Beers’ list of potentially inappropriate medicines (PIMs) and adverse drug reactions (ADRs) among older Caucasians is contentious, the ability of the Criteria to predict ADRs among older persons in Africa remains unexplored. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to compare the prevalence of PIMs and ADRs among hospitalized older persons in Nigeria and South Africa, and to determine the association between the 2015 American Geriatrics Society-Beers (AGS-Beers) PIMs and ADRs. METHODS: The medical records of older persons aged ≥60 years who were hospitalized in teaching hospitals in Nigeria and South Africa were randomly selected, and retrospectively evaluated for ADRs by two clinical pharmacists using the Naranjo algorithm. The PIMs were assessed using the 2015 AGS-Beers Criteria. A multivariate logistic regression was used to determine the associated factors for ADRs among the hospitalized older persons, with P<0.05 being considered significant. RESULTS: The samples which comprised 268 and 339 hospitalized older persons (mean age 70.53±8.22; 95% CI −0.21 to 2.32 vs mean age 69.49±7.64; 95% CI −0.25 to 2.34, P=0.11) were evaluated in Nigeria and South Africa, respectively. The PIMs among the older persons in Nigeria were 32.1% (86/268) and 30.1% (102/339, OR=0.91, 95% CI 0.64–1.29, P=0.6) for South Africa; 13.8% (37/268) of the hospitalized older persons in Nigeria experienced 43 cases of ADRs compared to 9.1% (31/339) in South Africa (95% CI 0.38–1.04, P=0.07). The multivariate analysis showed no association between PIMs and ADRs among the hospitalized older persons in Nigeria (OR=1.48 95% CI 0.70–3.17, P=0.31) and South Africa (OR=1.09, 95% CI 0.48–2.49, P=0.83). CONCLUSION: The 2015 AGS-Beers PIMs were not associated with ADRs among the hospitalized older persons in Nigeria and South Africa. However, physicians should be cautious when prescribing certain medications in the AGS-Beers list.