Prescribing of potentially inappropriate medications among the elderly population in an ambulatory care setting in a Saudi military hospital: trend and cost.

Aim: To explore the prevalence of potentially inappropriate medication (PIM) use in the elderly, to identify the trends and the patterns of prescribing such medication, and to calculate the associated direct medication cost of such practice in a Saudi hospital.

Methods: This was a retrospective cross-sectional study of patients who were aged 65 years or older on at least one PIM. The source of our data was outpatient pharmacy prescription records at Riyadh Military Hospital (RMH) for 2002, 2003 and 2004.