Press release no. 668 - The first Report "Medicines use in the elderly population in Italy", produced by the Medicines Utilisation Monitoring Centre (OsMed) with the coordination of the Italian Medicines Agency (AIFA) and the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS) was presented at the Sala delle Colonne of the Angelicum Congress Centre in Rome.

The Report describes the characteristics of pharmaceutical prescription in the population over 65, examining in detail some features relating to three care settings: home setting (territorial prescription), hospital and nursing homes.

The publication also analyses the concomitant use of medicines in patients treated for specific diseases (diabetes, dementia, COPD, parkinsonism); it evaluates new indicators of quality and prescribing appropriateness, with particular reference to polypharmacy, drug interactions and the use of potentially inappropriate drugs; it analyzes the use of drugs in the most advanced age groups (patients over ninety); it describes some national experiences of drug deprescribing and it also examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the use of medicines in the elderly population in 2020 (compared with 2019).

«It is a new chapter of the OsMed series, which confirms and expands the collaboration between AIFA and other national and local institutions and researchers, already started with the previous thematic volumes dedicated to antibiotics and pregnancy - so Nicola Magrini, AIFA’s Director General, introducing the event - The analysis of data flows from different sources has allowed us to focus on some particular contexts of medicines use in the elderly population, such as the hospital setting and the hitherto little explored nursing home setting, which was heavily affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The main findings – Magrini added - include an overuse of vitamin D not supported by evidence, the inappropriate use of antibiotics and some antiarrhythmics in the elderly, some possible interactions between coagulation drugs often used in combination, such as NSAIDs, anticoagulants and antiplatelet agents».

«This new Report, focused on drug use in the elderly, represents a valuable tool to promote actions and projects aimed at improving the quality and safety of medicine use in this population - so Silvio Brusaferro, President of the ISS – Indeed, one third of over 65s are estimated to use 10 or more drugs at the same time. This report helps to understand various aspects of this phenomenon by identifying drug deprescription, i.e. the reduction of the number of active ingredients prescribed, as a targeted response to ensure greater safety and appropriateness of treatments. Not always, in fact, the prescription of a large number of medicines - Brusaferro said - corresponds to the best treatments or to better health».

Speakers at the event were: Graziano Onder (ISS), Francesco Trotta and Giuseppe Traversa (AIFA), Alessandro Nobili and Silvio Garattini (Istituto “Mario Negri”), Ignazio Grattagliano (SIMG), Paola Kruger (EUPATI), Pier Mannuccio Mannucci (Fondazione IRCCS Ca’ Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico di Milano), Roberto Bernabei (Fondazione Policlinico Universitario “Agostino Gemelli” IRCCS).