STOPP/START criteria: Screening Tool for Older Person’s Potentially Inappropriate Prescriptions (STOPP) and Screening Tool to Alert doctors to the Right Treatment (START) criteria is evidence-based criteria and one of the most effective tools to check the rationality of the prescribed drugs. It is a physiological systems-based explicit set of criteria that attempts to define the clinically important prescribing problems relating to Potentially Inappropriate Medications (PIMs-STOPP criteria) and Potential Prescription Omissions (PPO-START criteria).
STOPP Criteria:The over-use of drugs and irrational choice lead to the prescription of a potentially inappropriate medication (PIM).PIM’s in turn make the elderly more liable to adverse drug reactions, and drug-drug and drug-disease interactions.
START Criteria:The underuse or omission of appropriate drugs leading to potential prescribing omission (PPO) fails to provide necessary protection against morbidity and mortality from various diseases common in older patients.
STOPP/START criteria was developed in Europe. It is one of the most widely used criteria for geriatric age group.It was first published in 2008.
There are three versions of the same criteria.
Version 1: It is published in the year 2008. It initially comprised 65 STOPP criteria and 22 START criteria.
Version 2: It is published in 2015 and consists of 80 STOPP and 34 START criteria.
Version 3: The most recent version, published on May 31, 2023. The updated form consists of 133 STOPP and 57 START criteria.
Importance of the criteria: Prescription rationality for elderly patients will be greatly increased by using STOPP/START criterion which will help in designing pharmacotherapeutic regimen such that the benefits will outweigh the risk of Potentially Inappropriate Prescription Additionally, it will also lessen the frequency of adverse drug reactions (ADRs) and polypharmacy in the elderly.
It is always recommended to follow such criteria as it reduces the chances of inappropriate prescribing and reduces the chances of errors.
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE USE OF SUCH CRITERIA’s?
The below given link consists of the latest version 3 criteria.
https://nhssomerset.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/STOPP-START-V3.pdf
MBH/PS