Published in Renal Replacement Therapy
BackgroundDialysis patients have to take many oral drugs, causing a high pill burden. Phosphate binders (PBs) account for a large proportion of daily pill burden; however, the relationship between patient background and prescription status of PBs is not clear.MethodsWe clarified the characteristics of PBs in the total daily pill burden by analyzing...
Published in Journal of nephrology
Direct oral anticoagulants (DOAC) are mostly prescribed to prevent cardioembolic stroke in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation (AF). An increasing number of guidelines recommend DOAC in AF patients with preserved renal function for the prevention of thromboembolism and an increased use of DOAC in daily practice is recorded also in elderl...
Published in Pharmacy Practice
Background: Polypharmacy has become an increasingly public health issue as population age and novel drugs are developed. Yet, evidence on low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) is still scarce. Objective: This work aims to estimate the prevalence of polypharmacy among Brazilians aged 50 and over, and investigate associated factors. Methods: A cros...
Published in BMC Health Services Research
BackgroundUp to 50% of medicines are not used as intended, resulting in poor health and economic outcomes. Medicines optimisation is ‘a person-centred approach to safe and effective medicines use, to ensure people obtain the best possible outcomes from their medicines’. The purpose of this exercise was to co-produce a prioritised research agenda fo...
Published in BMC Family Practice
BackgroundTo optimise medication use in older people, it is recommended that clinicians evaluate evidence on potential benefits and harms of medicines in light of the patients’ overall health, values and goals. This suggests general practitioners (GPs) should attempt to facilitate patient involvement in decision-making. In practice this is often ch...
Published in BMC Geriatrics
BackgroundPolymedicated older patients are at greater risk of suffering from adverse events. For this reason, the detection of both inappropriate polypharmacy and polypharmacy-associated Drug-Related Problems (DRPs) are essential to improve the health and wellbeing of older adults and to reduce healthcare costs. This work aims to explore health pro...
Published in BMC Geriatrics
BackgroundGeneral practitioners (GPs) should regularly review patients’ medications and, if necessary, deprescribe, as inappropriate polypharmacy may harm patients’ health. However, deprescribing can be challenging for physicians. This study investigates GPs’ deprescribing decisions in 31 countries.MethodsIn this case vignette study, GPs were invit...
Published in Pilot and Feasibility Studies
BackgroundOlder patients prescribed multiple medications commonly experience difficulties with adherence. High-quality evidence on interventions targeting older patients is lacking. Theory is rarely used to tailor adherence solutions. This study aimed to pilot test a novel intervention, developed using the Theoretical Domains Framework, which guide...
AIMS: We aimed to assess the prevalence, components and evolution of polypharmacy and to evaluate risk factors associated with polypharmacy. METHODS: A retrospective dynamic cohort study was performed, using a primary healthcare database comprising Flemish community-dwelling adults aged ≥40 years between 2011 and 2015. Polypharmacy and excessive po...
Published in Aging clinical and experimental research
Polypharmacy has been associated with worse cognitive performance, but its impact on mild cognitive impairment (MCI) progression to dementia has not been explored. The aims of the study were to investigate the association between multidrug regimens and MCI progression, and the possible mediation of drug-drug interactions and drugs' anticholinergic ...
