These authors contributed equally to this work Background: Rational use of medications and monitoring of prescriptions in elderly patients is important to decrease the number and duration of hospitalizations, emergency medical consultations, mortality, as well as medical costs. Purpose: To identify potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs) and potential prescription omissions (PPOs), and determine their prevalence based on the Screening Tool of Older Persons' potentially inappropriate Prescriptions (STOPP) v2 criteria and Screening Tool to Alert doctors to Right Treatment (START) v2 criteria for patients aged >65 years. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in two rural counties in Romania based on electronic prescriptions for chronic conditions (EPCCs) issued from 30 days to 90 days by a specialist or general practitioner. Collected EPCCs were evaluated by an interdisciplinary team of specialists based on 26 STOPP v2 criteria and 10 START v2 criteria. Results: PIM prevalence was 25.80% and PPO prevalence was 41.72% for 646 EPCCs. The mean age of patients was 75 years and the mean number of drugs per EPCC was four. The most frequently identified PIMs were treatment duration (6.65%), theophylline administration (5.72%), drug indication (4.64%), cyclo-oxygenase-2 non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (1.39%), and zopiclone prescription (0.77%). Statins (24.76%), beta-blockers (8.04%), and beta-2 agonist/antimuscarinic bronchodilators (5.88%) were the most frequently identified PPOs.Conclusion: PPOs were more prevalent than PIMs for elderly populations living in the two rural counties in Romania we studied. Health practitioners (family physicians, specialists, and pharmacists) should focus on prophylactic and curative considerations when prescribing agents to decrease the morbidity and mortality of elderly rural Romanian patients.

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A693finalized with input from principal investigators. Results: More than 2900 publications and 300 websites were screened, and 16 registries, 17 cohort studies and 43 databases were reviewed. Nine data sources from seven countries were recommended, of which six complementary sources were included: Get With The Guidelines-Stroke in the USA (an in-hospital database including about 1600 hospitals); National Stroke Registry in China (132 hospitals); Fukuoka Stroke Registry in Japan (seven stroke centres); Clinical Research Centre for Stroke -5thDivision Registry in South Korea (12 stroke centres); Riks-Stroke in Sweden (all Swedish hospitals admitting patients with acute stroke); and Erlangen Stroke Registry in Germany (Erlanger community). Based on a globally agreed study design concept, protocols for each data source have been developed locally and are now being implemented. ConClusions: The ARES programme will provide global, observational data from contemporary populations with mild stroke/TIA in real-world clinical practice. Studies will be presented individually owing to differences in the nature of the data sources. PRM63HealtH tecHnology assessMent needs InfoRMatIon tecHnology: tHe exPeRIence fRoM tHe fIRst ItalIan study on tHe da VIncI suRgIcal Robot

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