[Spanish adaptation of Beers criteria]

The Beers criteria, which were drawn up in the USA and updated in 2012, were developed to detect potentially inappropriate prescriptions in older adults. Since there are significant differences between the Spanish and North American drug catalogues, our aim was to produce a Spanish adaptation of the criteria.

A comparison of the drugs mentioned in the Beers list with the 2012 Spanish Drugs Catalogue identified those active substances that were on the list in the USA but not commercially available in Spain. We also searched for Spanish drugs that were similar to those listed in the criteria. If these drugs were available in the USA, it was assumed that they had been evaluated by the Beers authors. On the other hand, if similar active substances were not available in the USA, they were evaluated by reference to three information sources: articles reviewed by the American Geriatrics Society in support of the Beers criteria, the product characteristics and information leaflets, and the European STOPP/START, NORGEP and PRISCUS criteria.

Of the 199 active substances listed in the Beers criteria, 54 (27.0%) were not commercially available in Spain, but 50 new active substances could be included. These figures differed when “Direct Criteria” were considered: 47 (34.3%) active substances were not commercially available in Spain and 40 new ones could be included in the Beers list. As regards “Disease Dependent Criteria” the figures were 33 (21.3%) and 48, respectively.

A great number of drugs on the Beers list were not commercially available in Spain, and we added many active substances not included in the original version. This study is thus an adaptation of the Beers Criteria to the Spanish health care scenario.