and later in
200330 to reevaluate new products, to reassess the severity
assigned to each medication and to identify new situations
or major considerations. The application of these criteria
have allowed an improvement of pharmacological therapy
safety, since it identifies risk factors associated with prescription
and suggests safety improvement programs.
Beers’ criteria grouped medications into two groups; medications
which should be avoided by the elderly because of
their inefficacy or representation of an unnecessary risk,
having other alternatives (table 2), and those medications
which should not be used in the elderly even when they
meet specific medical requirements (table 3). Moreover it
stresses the importance of identifying prescription cascade.13