背景：藥物的不適當使用是重要的醫療照護問題。Beers 等學者於 1991 年發展,並於 1997、2002 年分別修訂的「老人潛在性不適當用藥準則」被廣泛應用於老人用藥研究。本研究在探討國內老人門診處方潛在性不適當用藥盛行率及其相關危險因素。
方法：本研究為一橫斷面研究,自「2002 年全民健保資料庫-抽樣歸人檔」中選取 65 歲以上老人的西醫門診藥物處方,以 2002 年版 Beers 準則做為評估標準,分析整年度老年病人門診處方不當用藥盛行情形。本研究以 SAS 套裝軟體進行資料整理及統計分析。
結果：7,408 位老人於 2002 年共有 157,071 人次藥物處方,46.55 %處方含有不適當藥物。「與診斷無關」不適當用藥盛行率為 40.22 %,37.73 %曾使用嚴重度「高」的不適當藥物;「與診斷相關」不適當用藥盛行率為 19.32 %。以邏輯斯迴歸分析顯示老人不適當處方之危險因素為「多重用藥」、「基層診所處方」、「高年齡層」、「非慢性病連續處方」等。
結論：老年病人門診處方不當用藥盛行率高於過去研究的結果,建議健保局及醫療院所應立即著手改善老人處方用藥不當的問題,以增進老年病人門診藥物治療品質與用藥安全。

Background 
Inappropriate medication use is a major healthcare issue. The potentially inappropriate medication criteria which Beers developed in 1991 and revised in 1997 and 2002 were widely applied to evaluate the medication use in elderly patients. This study addressed the prevalence, the relevant risk factors of inappropriate medication use for the elderly ambulatory care prescriptions. 
Methods
We conducted a cross-sectional study using the National Health Insurance Research Database of 100,000 Beneficiaries claims Data Files as well as selected Ambulatory Care Expenditures by Visits and Details of Ambulatory Care Orders of 7,408 people aged 65 and older to observe the annual prevalence of inappropriate drug prescribing in 2002. Inappropriate medications identified by using 2002 Beers’ criteria. SAS for windows was used for data management and statistic analysis. 
Results 
During 2002, a total of 157,071 prescriptions were administered to 7,408 elderly patients. Inappropriate medications were administered in 46.55% of elderly prescriptions, and overall 37.73% were classified as high-severity inappropriate medication. The prevalence of diagnosis-unrelated inappropriate medication was 40.22%. The prevalence of diagnosis-related inappropriate medication was 19.32%. The logistic regression analyses revealed that inappropriate prescribing was associated with multiple drugs, clinic visits, elderly age and non-chronic disease prescription . 
Conclusions 
The ratio of potentially inappropriate medication use among elderly ambulatory care prescriptions was higher than previous study. For enhancement of the quality and safety of elderly patients’ medication, we suggest NHIB and health care providers aggressively improve inappropriate medication use from associated risk factors.