Ingalill Rahm Hallberg
Professor emerita
Potentially inappropriate medication among people with dementia in eight European countries
Author
Other contributions
- Ingalill Rahm Hallberg
- Ulla Melin Emilsson
- Staffan Karlsson
- Connie Lethin
Summary, in English
Objectives: to evaluate the frequency of potentially inappropriate medication (PIM) prescription among older people with dementia (PwD) from eight countries participating in the European study 'RightTimePlaceCare', and to evaluate factors and adverse outcomes associated with PIM prescription.Methods: survey of 2,004 PwD including a baseline assessment and follow-up after 3 months. Interviewers gathered data on age, sex, prescription of medication, cognitive status, functional status, comorbidity, setting and admission to hospital, fall-related injuries and mortality in the time between baseline and follow-up. The European Union(7)-PIM list was used to evaluate PIM prescription. Multivariate regression analysis was used to investigate factors and adverse outcomes associated with PIM prescription.Results: overall, 60% of the participants had at least one PIM prescription and 26.4% at least two. The PIM therapeutic subgroups most frequently prescribed were psycholeptics (26% of all PIM prescriptions) and 'drugs for acid-related disorders' (21%). PwD who were 80 years and older, lived in institutional long-term care settings, had higher comorbidity and were more functionally impaired were at higher risk of being prescribed two PIM or more. The prescription of two or more PIM was associated with higher chance of suffering from at least one fall-related injury and at least one episode of hospitalisation in the time between baseline and follow-up.Conclusions: PIM use among PwD is frequent and is associated with institutional long-term care, age, advanced morbidity and functional impairment. It also appears to be associated with adverse outcomes. Special attention should be paid to psycholeptics and drugs for acid-related disorders.
Department/s
- Health-promoting Complex Interventions
- Pufendorf Institute for Advanced Studies
- School of Social Work
- Clinical Memory Research
Publishing year
2018-01-01
Language
English
Pages
68-74
Publication/Series
Age and Ageing
Volume
47
Issue
1
Document type
Journal article
Publisher
Oxford University Press
Topic
- Geriatrics
Keywords
- Aged
- Inappropriate prescribing
- Older people
- Potentially inappropriate medication list
- Proton-pump inhibitors
- Psychotropic drugs
Status
Published
Project
- RightTimePlaceCare
Research group
- Health-promoting Complex Interventions
- Clinical Memory Research
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 0002-0729