The artiele deals with an evaluation of the prevalence and trends in prescribing potentially inappropriate medications for Czech senior citizens in out-patient care. It uses the newly revised and, in the Czech Republic, to dáte less known Beers's eriteria 2003 (10), listing medications potentially inappropriate for the elderly based on pharmacological and pharmacoepidemiological studies. Prescription of these medications in the elderly should be low, but previous studies háve documented their frequent use in several European countries, including the Czech Republic (7). The most extensive sample has ever been analyzed in the Czech conditions - the dataset of 1 776 119 drugs dispensed on medical prescription to the over 65s insured through the Skoda Employee Insurance Company, Mladá Boleslav, Czech Republic, during the period January 1997 - December 2001. The analysis documented frequent use of potentially inappropriate medications, in 40 % of out-patient seniors in 1997 and in 30 % in 2001. When only "highly ris¬ky" medications were considered, the prevalence reached was also high - 34 % in 1997, with only mild longitudinal dechne over time - 26% in 2001. Among inap¬propriate medication users, females and "older" seniors (75 - 84 years old) were particularly identified. In the period studied, long-acting benzodiazepines and nit¬rofurantoin (11 % and 6 % in 1997, respectively) were the most frequently dispensed medications, with a nearly unchanged prevalence over time. The use of ergot mesyloid, indomethacin and short-acting nifedipin deereased; use of doxazosin, ticlopidin, and short-acting oxybutinin inereased.

        Key words: geriatrics, potentially inappropriate medications in the aged, prevalence and trends, Beerses eriteria