The most common patterns of PIMs
The average number of medications prescribed was 6.0±1.5. The most
frequently prescribed PIMs independent of diagnoses or conditions were
proton-pump inhibitors (12.9%), diuretics (8.2%) and central nervous
system medications (6.9%). The most common category of central nervous
system (CNS) medications that were inappropriately used fell into
benzodiazepines, predominantly accounting for 76.8% of all CNS
medications. Cardiovascular medications (2.7%), aspirin for primary
prevention of cardiovascular events in adults aged over 70 (2.7%), pain
medications (2.1%) and drugs with strong anticholinergic properties
(2.0%) respectively took up a small proportion of the PIM prescriptions
as well. The prevalence of PIMs independent of diagnoses or conditions
was provided in Supplement Table 1.