| Title |
Excessive polypharmacy and potentially inappropriate prescribing in 147 care homes: a cross-sectional study
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
BJGP Open, October 2021
|
| DOI | 10.3399/bjgpo.2021.0167 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Clare MacRae, David AG Henderson, Stewart W Mercer, Jenni Burton, Nicosha De Souza, Paula Grill, Charis Marwick, Bruce Guthrie |
| Abstract |
Care-home residents often have multiple cognitive and physical impairments and are at high risk of adverse drug events (ADEs). Describe excessive polypharmacy and potentially inappropriate prescribing predisposing care-home residents to ADEs. Cross-sectional analysis of all dispensed prescriptions for residents of 147 care-homes. Prevalence of excessive polypharmacy was examined using multilevel logistic regression, by modelling associations between individual and care-home predictors with excessive polypharmacy (≥10 drugs). Prescribing of drugs known to increase the risk of eight clinically important ADE categories was examined. Drugs prescribed within each ADE category, for each resident, were counted. 32.3% of residents had excessive polypharmacy, which was more common in residents aged 70-74 years (aOR =1.86 [1.04-3.34]) and 80-84 years (aOR =1.75 [1.01-3.02]), living in a residential care-home (aOR =1.50 [95%CI 1.19-1.88]), and located in Fife (aOR =1.37 [1.09-1.71]). Excessive polypharmacy was less common in residents with dementia (aOR =0.73 [0.64-0.84]). 8.9% (5.9%-11.6%) of the variation was attributable to care-home predictors. Potentially inappropriate prescribing of ≥2 drugs was seen across all ADE categories with highest prevalence seen in drugs predisposing to constipation (35.8%), sedation (27.7%), and renal injury (18.0%). Excessive polypharmacy is common in care-home residents and is associated with both individual and care-home predictors. Potentially inappropriate prescribing of drugs that predisposed residents to all included ADEs categories is common. Research is needed to support and evaluate safe care-home prescribing practices. |
X Demographics
The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 24 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 20 | 83% |
| Australia | 1 | 4% |
| Unknown | 3 | 13% |
Demographic breakdown
| Type | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Members of the public | 14 | 58% |
| Scientists | 4 | 17% |
| Practitioners (doctors, other healthcare professionals) | 4 | 17% |
| Science communicators (journalists, bloggers, editors) | 2 | 8% |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 27 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Unknown | 27 | 100% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 4 | 15% |
| Student > Doctoral Student | 3 | 11% |
| Student > Postgraduate | 2 | 7% |
| Researcher | 2 | 7% |
| Lecturer | 1 | 4% |
| Other | 5 | 19% |
| Unknown | 10 | 37% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Medicine and Dentistry | 6 | 22% |
| Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 3 | 11% |
| Nursing and Health Professions | 2 | 7% |
| Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology | 1 | 4% |
| Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutical Science | 1 | 4% |
| Other | 4 | 15% |
| Unknown | 10 | 37% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 13. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 01 December 2021.
All research outputs
#2,862,683
of 25,402,889 outputs
Outputs from BJGP Open
#191
of 635 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#63,796
of 437,139 outputs
Outputs of similar age from BJGP Open
#11
of 24 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 25,402,889 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done well and is in the 88th percentile: it's in the top 25% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 635 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 13.9. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 69% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 437,139 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done well, scoring higher than 85% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 24 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 58% of its contemporaries.