The easiest way to predict adverse drug reactions in older persons.

摘要

In a recent issue of the Archives, Onder and colleagues reported findings from interesting analyses aimed at validating a novel score for assessing the risk of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) in hospitalized older patients. As explained by Schneider and Campese in the accompanying Invited Commentary, the need for instruments helping physicians at improving the prescription of medications is a crucial priority for public health, both for the increasing use of drugs as well as for the aging population. Nevertheless, some methodological and theoretical concerns about the proposed score may exist. From the shown data, it is evident that the predictive value of the instrument mainly resides in the number of medications used by the patient. In fact, 4 of 11 points are derived from the "number of drugs" variable.