en pharmacology pharmacology Original Article Original Article <span style="font-size:14px;"><span style="font-family:Times New Roman;"><span style="line-height:14pt"><b><i><span style="color:blue">Background</span></i></b><i><span style="color:blue">:</span></i> Due to physiological changes and co-existing chronic diseases, the elderly has to take various drugs with different mechanisms that may increase the risk of drug interactions and side effects of medications.<b> </b>This study was performed to evaluate the profile of drug interactions of Amirkola elderly patients.<span style="font-size:9.0pt"></span></span><br> <span style="line-height:14pt"><b><i><span style="color:blue">Methods:</span></i></b> This cross-sectional descriptive-analytical study is part of the Amirkola Health and Ageing Project (AHAP) which was done during 2012-2013 (Amirkola, Babol, Iran). Initial data collection was done on 1616 persons of ages 60 and older by observing their prescribed drugs and those prepared by self-medications.<span style="font-size:10.0pt"></span></span><br> <span style="line-height:14pt"><b><i><span style="color:blue">Results:</span></i></b> Drug interactions were detected in 31.7% (95% CI; 29.41, 33.95) of the drug prescriptions. This included 28% of mild, 63.3% of moderate and 8.7% of severe drug interactions. Cardiovascular drugs (64.4%) were the most frequent drugs that induced drug-interactions. According on Beer criteria 2015, 39.97% of the elderly medications were identified as &ldquo;inappropriate medication&rdquo;. NSAIDs had the highest prevalence of inappropriate drugs. There was a significant relationship between female gender, having underlying disease, living alone, having insurance, and polypharmacy with obtained drug interaction results (p<0.05).<b><i><span style="color:blue"></span></i></b></span><br> <span style="line-height:14pt"><b><i><span style="color:blue">Conclusion</span></i></b><i><span style="color:blue">:</span></i> The findings of the present study indicate considerable drug interactions among the elderly in Amirkola, which highlights the need for careful prescribing and using of drugs in the elderly.<b><i><span style="color:#0033cc"></span></i></b></span></span></span><br> &nbsp; Elderly, Drug interaction, Inappropriate medication, Inappropriate Drug, 786 794 http://caspjim.com/browse.php?a_code=A-10-122-3&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Zahra Fath Tabar zahra.fathtabar.70@gmail.com 100319475328460039898 100319475328460039898 No Student Research Committee, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran Ahmadreza Moghadamnia ahmadrezamoghadamnia@gmail.com 100319475328460039899 100319475328460039899 No Student Research Committee, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran Ali Bijani alibijani@yahoo.com 100319475328460039900 100319475328460039900 No Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Health Research Institute, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran Seyyed Reza Hosseini hosseinim46@yahoo.com 100319475328460039901 100319475328460039901 No Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Health Research Institute, Babol University of Medical Sciences, Babol, Iran Ali Akbar Moghadamnia moghadamnia@yahoo.com 100319475328460039902 100319475328460039902 Yes Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Babol University of medical Sciences, Babol, Iran