Prevalence of potentially inappropriate medication use in older population: comparison of the Finnish Meds75+ database with eight published criteria

BACKGROUND: There are several national and international criteria available for identifying potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs) for older people. The prevalence of PIM use may vary depending on the criteria used. The aim is to examine the prevalence of potentially inappropriate medication use in Finland according to the Meds75+ database, developed to support clinical decision-making in Finland, and to compare it with eight other PIM criteria. METHODS: This nationwide register study consisted of Finnish people aged 75 years or older (n = 497,663) who during 2017–2019 purchased at least one prescribed medicine considered as a PIM, based on any of the included criteria. The data on purchased prescription medicines was collected from the Prescription Centre of Finland. RESULTS: The annual prevalence of 10.7–57.0% was observed for PIM use depending on which criteria was used. The highest prevalence was detected with the Beers and lowest with the Laroche criteria. According to the Meds75+ database, annually every third person had used PIMs. Regardless of the applied criteria, the prevalence of PIM use decreased during the follow-up. The differences in the prevalence of medicine classes of PIMs explain the variance of the overall prevalence between the criteria, but they identify the most commonly used PIMs quite similarly. CONCLUSION: PIM use is common among older people in Finland according to the national Meds75+ database, but the prevalence is dependent on the applied criteria. The results indicate that different PIM criteria emphasize different medicine classes, and clinicians should consider this issue when applying PIM criteria in their daily practice. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12877-022-03706-z.