Antipsychotic Use and Hospitalization Among Older Assisted Living Residents: Does Risk Vary by Frailty Status?

Antipsychotic prescribing and drug-related readmissions in multimorbid older inpatients: a post-hoc analysis of the OPERAM population

BACKGROUND

Limited data are available on characteristics associated with antipsychotic use in multimorbid older adults.

AIM

Primary: to identify patient characteristics associated with antipsychotic prescribing in a multimorbid population of older inpatients with polypharmacy. Secondary: (1) to observe if antipsychotics use during an index hospitalisation was associated with a drug related admission (DRA) within one year, and (2) to describe these cases of antipsychotic-related readmissions.

METHOD

This was a secondary analysis of the OPERAM randomized controlled trial. Multivariate analysis assessed the association between characteristics and comorbidities with antipsychotic use. An expert team assessed DRA occurring during the one-year follow-up.

RESULTS

Antipsychotics were prescribed to 5.5% (n = 110) patients upon admission while 7.7% (n = 154) inpatients received antipsychotics at any time (i.e. upon admission, during hospitalisation, and/or at discharge). The most frequently prescribed antipsychotics were quetiapine (n = 152), haloperidol (n = 48) and risperidone (n = 22). Antipsychotic prescribing was associated with dementia (OR = 3.7 95%CI[2.2;6.2]), psychosis (OR = 26.2 [7.4;92.8]), delirium (OR = 6.4 [3.8;10.8]), mood disorders (OR = 2.6 [1.6;4.1]),  ≥ 15 drugs a day (OR = 1.7 [1.1;2.6]), functional dependency (Activities of Daily Living score < 50/100) (OR = 3.9 [2.5;6.1]) and < 2 units of alcohol per week (OR = 2.2 [1.4;3.6]). DRA occurred in 458 patients (22.8%) within one year. Antipsychotic prescribing at any time was not associated with DRA (OR = 1.0 [0.3;3.9]) however contributed to 8 DRAs, including 3 falls.

CONCLUSION

In this European multimorbid polymedicated older inpatients, antipsychotics were infrequently prescribed, most often at low dosage. Besides neuro-psychiatric symptoms, risk factors for inhospital antipsychotic prescribing were lower functional status and polymedication.

A systematic review of reasons and risks for acute service use by older adult residents of long-term care

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

To identify the reasons and/or risk factors for hospital admission and/or emergency department attendance for older (≥60 years) residents of long-term care facilities.

BACKGROUND

Older adults' use of acute services is associated with significant financial and social costs. A global understanding of the reasons for the use of acute services may allow for early identification and intervention, avoid clinical deterioration, reduce the demand for health services and improve quality of life.

DESIGN

Systematic review registered in PROSPERO (CRD42022326964) and reported following PRISMA guidelines.

METHODS

The search strategy was developed in consultation with an academic librarian. The strategy used MeSH terms and relevant keywords. Articles published since 2017 in English were eligible for inclusion. CINAHL, MEDLINE, Scopus and Web of Science Core Collection were searched (11/08/22). Title, abstract, and full texts were screened against the inclusion/exclusion criteria; data extraction was performed two blinded reviewers. Quality of evidence was assessed using the NewCastle Ottawa Scale (NOS).

RESULTS

Thirty-nine articles were eligible and included in this review; included research was assessed as high-quality with a low risk of bias. Hospital admission was reported as most likely to occur during the first year of residence in long-term care. Respiratory and cardiovascular diagnoses were frequently associated with acute services use. Frailty, hypotensive medications, falls and inadequate nutrition were associated with unplanned service use.

CONCLUSIONS

Modifiable risks have been identified that may act as a trigger for assessment and be amenable to early intervention. Coordinated intervention may have significant individual, social and economic benefits.

RELEVANCE TO CLINICAL PRACTICE

This review has identified several modifiable reasons for acute service use by older adults. Early and coordinated intervention may reduce the risk of hospital admission and/or emergency department.

REPORTING METHOD

This systematic review was conducted and reported following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) methodology.

PATIENT OR PUBLIC CONTRIBUTION

No patient or public contribution.

How frail is frail? A systematic scoping review and synthesis of high impact studies

AIMS

While the frailty index (FI) is a continuous variable, an FI score of 0.25 has construct and predictive validity to categorise community-dwelling older adults as frail or non-frail. Our study aimed to explore which FI categories (FI scores and labels) were being used in high impact studies of adults across different care settings and why these categories were being chosen by study authors.

METHODS

For this systematic scoping review, Medline, Cochrane and EMBASE databases were searched for studies that measured and categorised an FI. Of 1314 articles screened, 303 met the eligibility criteria (community: N = 205; residential aged care: N = 24; acute care: N = 74). For each setting, the 10 studies with the highest field-weighted citation impact (FWCI) were identified and data, including FI scores and labels and justification provided, were extracted and analysed.

RESULTS

FI scores used to distinguish frail and non-frail participants varied from 0.12 to 0.45 with 0.21 and 0.25 used most frequently. Additional categories such as mildly, moderately and severely frail were defined inconsistently. The rationale for selecting particular FI scores and labels were reported in most studies, but were not always relevant.

CONCLUSIONS

High impact studies vary in the way they categorise the FI and while there is some evidence in the community-dweller literature, FI categories have not been well validated in acute and residential aged care. For the time being, in those settings, the FI should be reported as a continuous variable wherever possible. It is important to continue working towards defining frailty categories as variability in FI categorisation impacts the ability to synthesise results and to translate findings into clinical practice.

Physical frailty and cognitive impairment in older nursing home residents: a latent class analysis

BACKGROUND

Little is known about the heterogeneous clinical profile of physical frailty and its association with cognitive impairment in older U.S. nursing home (NH) residents.

METHODS

Minimum Data Set 3.0 at admission was used to identify older adults newly-admitted to nursing homes with life expectancy ≥6 months and length of stay ≥100 days (n = 871,801). Latent class analysis was used to identify physical frailty subgroups, using FRAIL-NH items as indicators. The association between the identified physical frailty subgroups and cognitive impairment (measured by Brief Interview for Mental Status/Cognitive Performance Scale: none/mild; moderate; severe), adjusting for demographic and clinical characteristics, was estimated by multinomial logistic regression and presented in adjusted odds ratios (aOR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs).

RESULTS

In older nursing home residents at admission, three physical frailty subgroups were identified: "mild physical frailty" (prevalence: 7.6%), "moderate physical frailty" (44.5%) and "severe physical frailty" (47.9%). Those in "moderate physical frailty" or "severe physical frailty" had high probabilities of needing assistance in transferring between locations and inability to walk in a room. Residents in "severe physical frailty" also had greater probability of bowel incontinence. Compared to those with none/mild cognitive impairment, older residents with moderate or severe impairment had slightly higher odds of belonging to "moderate physical frailty" [aOR (95%CI)moderate cognitive impairment: 1.01 (0.99-1.03); aOR (95%CI)severe cognitive impairment: 1.03 (1.01-1.05)] and much higher odds to the "severe physical frailty" subgroup [aOR (95%CI)moderate cognitive impairment: 2.41 (2.35-2.47); aOR (95%CI)severe cognitive impairment: 5.74 (5.58-5.90)].

CONCLUSIONS

Findings indicate the heterogeneous presentations of physical frailty in older nursing home residents and additional evidence on the interrelationship between physical frailty and cognitive impairment.

The Impact of a Randomized Controlled Trial Testing the Implementation of Function-Focused Care in Assisted Living on Resident Falls, Hospitalizations, and Nursing Home Transfers

The purpose of this study was to test the impact of function-focused care on adverse outcomes in assisted living. This was a randomized trial including 85 settings. The age of the 794 recruited participants was 89.48 (SD = 7.43) years, the majority was female (n = 561, 71%) and White (n = 771, 97%). The percentage of residents in the treatment group experiencing a fall decreased at 12 months from 26% to 20% and the control group increased from 24% to 25%, p = .02. A greater percentage of residents in the treatment group transferred to nursing facilities at 4 months (4-1% in control vs. 4-5% in treatment, p = .02) and 12 months (4-2% in control and 4-7% in treatment, p = .01). There was no treatment effect on emergency room or hospital transfers. The findings support the safety of function-focused care related to falls and need for hospital transfers.

Association of Hospital Readmissions and Survivability With Frailty and Palliative Performance Scores Among Long-Term Care Residents

BACKGROUND

Frailty and palliative performance scores are 2 markers used in the measurement of functional decline in oncology and hospice care.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate the frailty and palliative performance scores of a long-term care resident community and determine whether frailty and palliative performance scores can predict hospital readmissions (HR) and survivability of the long-term care resident.

METHODS

One hundred seventy-one long-term care residents from 2 urban facilities were evaluated for functional decline using the Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS) and Palliative Performance Scale (PPS). Sociodemographic, HR, and survival data for 1 year from study initiation were recorded.

RESULTS

The 171 long-term care residents, of lower socioeconomic status, primarily Medicare/Medicaid or dual-eligible, evaluated for functional decline using the CFS and PPS, had mean age of 73.1 years, 52.6% female, 94.7% African American, with 18.1% having HR and 87.1% surviving more than a year. There was a negative association between age and HR (P = .384). Among functional evaluation scales, CFS was positively associated with age (P = .013) but not PPS (P = .673). The residents scored 6.0 ± 1.2 on CFS and 52.8 ± 13.2 on PPS (%) with those residents readmitted to hospital having poorer outcomes. Readmission to hospital and survivability of the long-term care resident were both strongly associated with CFS (P = .001) and PPS (P = .001).

CONCLUSION

There is a strong association between the 2 markers used in the measurement of functional decline-Frailty measured by CFS and Palliative Performance Score measured by PPS. Frailty and palliative performance scores can strongly predict HR and survivability of the long-term care resident.

Trajectories of Antipsychotic Drug Use Over 10 Years in a French Community-Based Sample of Persons Aged 50 and Older

OBJECTIVE

To identify the temporal prescribing patterns of antipsychotics among persons aged 50 and older and to explore the demographic and clinical characteristics associated with each trajectory of antipsychotic drug use.

METHODS

This was a historical fixed cohort study on a community-based sample of persons affiliated with the French Insurance Healthcare system. Data from community drug reimbursement claims were collected by the French Insurance Healthcare system over the period 2006-2015. The study included 160,853 persons aged 50 and older. Trajectories of antipsychotic drug use were identified by examining the distribution of antipsychotic use within consecutive 3-month periods over the entire follow-up period. Latent class analyses were used to identify distinct trajectories. Multivariate polynomial logistic regression models were used to explore the characteristics independently associated with trajectories.

RESULTS

Five trajectories of antipsychotic use were identified: null or very low use (93.8%), occasional use (2%), decreasing use (1.6%), chronic use (1.5%), and increasing use (1.1%). Occasional users were older and had a lower use of other psychotropic drugs and a high use of health resources. Chronic users had the highest frequency of chronic psychiatric diseases and were less likely to present with dementia or Parkinson disease. Persons with increasing use of antipsychotics were more frequently males and had a high frequency of dementia; half of them died over the follow-up period compared with 20% in the total sample.

CONCLUSION

Further studies should explore whether the benefit-risk ratio of antipsychotic drugs in older adults differs according to trajectories of use.

Relevance of frailty to mortality associated with the use of antipsychotics among community-residing older adults with impaired cognition

PURPOSE

To examine the association between new antipsychotic use and mortality over 6 months among community-based older adults with cognitive impairment, and variation in risk by frailty and sex.

METHODS

We conducted a retrospective cohort study of older (aged 66+) home care clients in Ontario, Canada, using linked administrative health and clinical databases. Included were clients with dementia and/or significant cognitive impairment assessed during April 2008 to March 2013. Frailty was defined using a validated 72-item index. Exposed were those newly dispensed an antipsychotic in the 6 months post cohort entry, with no such claims in the year prior to drug index date. Two-stage matching defined unexposed clients and their index date (matching on age, sex, frailty, assessment year, and propensity score). Outcome was time to death following index date. Cause-specific hazards models were used, and number needed to harm at 6 months was estimated from cumulative incidence function curves.

RESULTS

Among 4955 matched exposed-unexposed pairs, new antipsychotic users showed a significantly increased hazard of mortality at 1, 3, and 6 months relative to unexposed, with the highest risk observed in the first month (hazard ratio [HR] = 2.08 [95% CI, 1.79-2.43]). At 1 month, risk was significantly higher for robust (HR = 3.72 [95% CI, 2.45-5.66]) vs frail (HR = 1.74 [95% CI, 1.40-2.17], P = .002) clients. The number needed to harm was 22.7 and did not vary by frailty but was lower for men (14.9) than for women (35.0).

CONCLUSIONS

Risk of antipsychotic-associated mortality was highest in the first month following exposure, varied significantly by client frailty, and was greater among men than among women.