OBJECTIVE

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To analyze the influential factors for potentially inappropriate medication （PIM） in elderly cancer patients.

METHODS

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The data of elderly cancer patients hospitalized in a hospital from January to December 2021 were collected. According to the Beers standard of the American Geriatrics Society in 2019 （hereinafter referred to as the “2019 version of Beers standard”） and

Criteria for Potentially Inappropriate Drug Use in Chinese Elderly

（2017 version） （hereinafter referred to as the “Chinese PIM standard”）， the PIM status of elderly cancer patients was retrospectively analyzed. Multivariate Logistic regression analysis was used to identify influential factors for PIM.

RESULTS

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A total of 293 patients were included in the study. According to the 2019 version of Beers standard， 211 patients （72.01%） had PIM， of which 204 （69.62%） had PIM related to drugs， 6 （2.05%） had PIM related to diseases or symptoms， 46 （15.70%） had PIM that should be used with caution， 32 （10.92%） had PIM with drug-drug interaction that should be avoided， and 11 （3.75%） had PIM based on renal function； the top 5 drugs in the list of incidence were proton pump inhibitors， metoclopramide， the first-generation antihistamines as promethazine， analgesics as ibuprofen and megestrol. According to the Chinese PIM standard， there were 132 patients （45.05%） with PIM， of which 119 （40.61%） had PIM related to drugs， involving 25 drugs （included 7 high-risk drugs and 18 low-risk drugs）， and 24 （8.19%） with PIM in disease status； top 4 drugs in the list of incidence were promethazine， megestrol， ibuprofen and cimetidine. Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed that compared with patients with hospital stay≤10 days， patients with hospital stay between 11 and 30 days had a higher risk of PIM [odds ratio （OR）＝8.836 8， 95% confidence interval （CI） （3.217 8， 31.940 9），

P

＝0.000 1]； compared with the patients with the number of clinical disease diagnosed≤5， patients with the number of clinical disease diagnosed≥11 had a higher risk of PIM [OR＝10.930 1， 95%CI （3.000 9， 70.922 9），

P

＝0.001 8]； compared with surgical treatment， patients receiving antineoplastic drugs had a higher risk of PIM [OR＝2.209 5， 95%CI （1.180 2， 4.176 9），

P

＝0.013 6].

CONCLUSIONS

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Elderly cancer patients have multiple diseases， complicated medication， and a high incidence of PIM. The length of hospital stay （11-30 d）， the number of clinical disease diagnosed （≥11） and anti-tumor drugs are main influential factors for PIM in patients.