Commentary on the New American Geriatric Society Beers Criteria for Potentially Inappropriate Medication Use in Older Adults

Abstract

Recently, the American Geriatrics Society (AGS) Beers criteria were unveiled as a measure of potentially inappropriate medication use in older adults.1 We thought it would be timely and relevant to comment on this updated quality measure for medication use. Of note, a recent systematic review summarized the current literature on the more than a dozen measures of potentially inappropriate prescribing in older adults and reported that the Beers criteria and the Screening Tool of Older Persons' Prescriptions (STOPP) criteria were some of the most common measures used.2 With that in mind, in this commentary we discuss some of the history of the Beers criteria as well as briefly describe the process of updating the criteria, highlighting some of the key changes made. Then, we compare and contrast the new criteria with the STOPP criteria from Europe.3 Finally, we briefly comment on some future directions for the Beers criteria as an explicit measure of potentially inappropriate medication use in older adults.