ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE To provide reference for the hierarchical management of polypharmacy in elderly patients in China. METHODS The formulation and development process of drug hierarchical management system FORTA （fit for the aged） for elderly patients was introduced. The treatment drugs for common cardiovascular system diseases and neuropsychiatric diseases in elderly patients were taken as examples， the disease types， drug types and drug hierarchy in Germany-FORTA， the U.S.-FORTA and Japan-FORTA were compared. RESULTS & CONCLUSIONS FORTA system was the first drug hierarchical system that combined positive and negative labels， formed through two rounds of Delphi method and covered a variety of diseases and drug items. The cardiovascular system diseases covered by the FORTA list mainly included acute coronary syndrome， chronic therapy following myocardial infarction， heart failure， atrial fibrillation， hypertension， stroke， etc. For acute coronary syndrome， chronic therapy following myocardial infarction and stroke， the related drugs were mostly class A， and the differences between those FORTA lists were minimal. The hierarchy of drugs used to treat other diseases was various. The neuropsychiatric diseases covered by the FORTA list included dementia， epilepsy， Parkinson’s disease， insomnia/sleep disorder， depression and bipolar disorder， etc.， and the drug’s hierarchy was mostly labelled with negative， mostly class C and class D， and only levodopa to treat Parkinson’s disease was class A. The hierarchy of antiepileptic drugs and drugs for the treatment of bipolar disorder （except lithium） was relatively uniform in three FORTA lists， while the hierarchy of other drugs was different. Compared with the FORTA system in the U.S. and Japan， the Germany-FORTA system updated the drug types and clinical evidence， optimized the hierarchy of diseases and drugs， and may be stricter in some drug hierarchies. The drugs with uniform hierarchy in those FORTA lists may have a wide application range，and our country can combine the above content with clinical practice to formulate a drug hierarchical management system for elderly patients to optimize the drug selection of elderly patients and improve their clinical outcomes.