Abstract Introduction Genetic testing in medical practice is becoming increasingly commonplace. Particularly relevant to geriatric medicine and polypharmacy is the science of pharmacogenetics; the testing of an individual patient to check for drug-gene interactions, which can determine if a new or existing prescription is a good fit for them. We wanted to establish the prevalence of prescriptions for medicines that have a known pharmacogenetic target in a population of people admitted to a geriatric medicine department at a UK teaching hospital. Methods We conducted a retrospective cohort analysis, using a year’s worth of electronic prescribing records (1/6/23–31/05/24), for patients admitted under the care of any named geriatrician at a single site teaching hospital in the UK. We cross referenced those prescriptions against a reference list of pharmacogenetic medications (PGxMed) with a known applicable pharmacogenetic test. Results The department recorded 9115 admissions over this time period. Most patients received at least one PGxMed prescription, with nearly two thirds (61%, or 5528 out of 9115) of admissions in one year being associated with at least one PGx medication. 6 was the highest number of PGxMed prescriptions recorded against a single patient (3 instances). ‘Cholesterol lowering,’ ‘Analgesic’ and ‘Anticoagulant’ were the top three classes of medication by frequency respectively. Conclusions Prescriptions for PGxMeds are highly prevalent in geriatric medicine in-patients, and more research is required to determine what the most cost-effective PGx testing approach is. There could be a role for PGx to help identify ineffective or harmful medication in this patient group. Given that geriatricians possess an acknowledged expertise in medication review, whilst PGx is still a nascent field of testing from a UK perspective, it is one for them to be aware of since it is likely to become of more relevance in clinical practice over the next few years.
Patel et al. (2026) studied this question.