Clinical Meaning
The AGS Beers Criteria identifies potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs) in older adults based on the pharmacological principle that age related physiological changes fund...
The AGS Beers Criteria identifies potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs) in older adults based on the pharmacological principle that age-related physiological changes fundamentally alter drug safety profiles. Renal clearance decline (GFR loss of ~1 mL/min/year after age 40) causes accumulation of renally eliminated drugs: glyburide's active metabolites cause prolonged hypoglycemia lasting 24-72 hours; gabapentin accumulates causing somnolence and falls; dabigatran reaches toxic levels increasing hemorrhage risk. Hepatic phase I metabolism (CYP450 oxidation) decreases with aging while phase II reactions (conjugation) are relatively preserved, making drugs dependent on oxidative metabolism (diazepam, chlordiazepoxide) particularly dangerous — diazepam half-life increases from 20 hours at age 20 to over 90 hours at age 80. Age-related reduction in cholinergic neurons makes older adults exquisitely sensitive to anticholinergic medications: muscarinic blockade produces a dose-dependent cognitive impairment spectrum from mild inattention to frank delirium. The Anticholinergic Cognitive Burden (ACB) Scale assigns scores of 1-3 to medications based on anticholinergic potency; cumulative scores of 3 or greater predict cognitive decline and delirium. Beers Criteria categories address: (1) medications to avoid regardless of condition, (2) drug-disease interactions (e.g., anticholinergics in...
