Key result
The Screening Tool of Older Person's Prescription (STOPP) is more practical than Beers criteria but lacks sensitivity for assessing drug therapy appropriateness in older patients with mental illness.
Why the study?
The authors aimed to critically review literature on the utility and limitations of the Screening Tool of Older Person's Prescription (STOPP) among the elderly, focusing particularly on older individuals with mental illness.
While STOPP is a practical and comprehensive tool for medication screening in the elderly, its utility in geriatric psychiatric populations is limited by a lack of sensitivity, highlighting the need for further studies.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
Caution advised applying STOPP to older adults with mental illness; leaves open need for validation studies in geriatric psychiatry.
Our aim was to critically review the literature on the utility and limitations of a Screening Tool of Older Person's Prescription (STOPP) among the elderly, with special focus on older individuals with mental illness. We conducted a literature search on PubMed from January 1991 until July 2019. STOPP criteria was first developed in 2008, in Ireland, by Gallagher and colleagues, last updated in 2015 and culturally adapted to a few countries in the meantime. Compared to other existing tools, like Beers criteria, STOPP seems to be more practical to use, also because their organization focuses on medications classes instead of specific drugs. However, several limitations inherent to the use of explicit criteria are known, namely lack of sensitivity to assess the appropriateness of drug therapy in older individuals with mental illness, which are detailed in the manuscript. STOPP criteria is one of the most comprehensive and useful tool to use in practice. However, more studies in geriatric populations with psychiatric conditions should be performed to assess the real value of this tool in clinical practice.
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Aguiar et al. (2021) conducted a review in Older individuals with mental illness. Screening Tool of Older Person's Prescription (STOPP) vs. Beers criteria was evaluated. The Screening Tool of Older Person's Prescription (STOPP) is more practical than Beers criteria but lacks sensitivity for assessing drug therapy appropriateness in older patients with mental illness.
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