Deprescribing: An Approach to Reducing Polypharmacy in Nursing Home Residents

Multicenter prospective observational study on hospital pharmacist interventions to reduce inappropriate medications

Background: In Japan, the involvement of hospital pharmacists in inappropriate medications (IMs) practices has not been sufficiently reported. Therefore, this prospective study described the interventions of hospital pharmacists in discontinuing inappropriate drugs or reducing drug doses. Methods: We conducted a prospective, multicenter, observational study to investigate the intervention of hospital pharmacists in inappropriate prescriptions for inpatients in September 2018. Fifty pharmacists from 45 hospitals in Japan participated in this study. IMs were defined as medications that pharmacists deemed inappropriate for patient treatment. The subjects of the study were patients who interacted with the participating pharmacists. Results: During the study period, the median number of beds in hospitals where the 50 participating pharmacists worked was 380, and the average number of beds for which the pharmacists were responsible was 49. The enrolled hospital pharmacists recommended that doctors discontinue or reduce the doses of their regular drugs for 347 out of 1,415 (24.5%) patients. Among the 391 pharmacists' recommendations to reduce IMs for 347 patients, physicians accepted 368 (94.1%) recommendations, and 523 drugs were discontinued as a result. Pharmacist intervention also led to improvements in hypnotic sedation, delirium, and hypotension. The most common reasons for IMs identified by pharmacists were "long-term administration of irresponsible or aimless medications" (44.5%), "adverse effects caused by medications" (31.5%), and "medications-mediated duplication of the pharmacological effect" (15.3%). Approximately 90% of pharmacists' suggestions to reduce medications were accepted for each reason. The average number of regular medications used by patients involved in drug reduction was 8.2, and the average number of medications reduced was 1.7. A sub-analysis showed that patients using opioids tended to take more medications, and these patients were able to reduce the amount of medications taken. Interventions by pharmacists certified in palliative pharmacies tended to reduce adverse drug events. Conclusion: This was the first multicenter prospective observational study conducted in Japan to demonstrate hospital pharmacist intervention's effectiveness in promoting appropriate prescription and, consequently, a reduction in the number of medications in use and polypharmacy.

Feasibility & Efficacy of Deprescribing rounds in a Singapore rehabilitative hospital- a randomised controlled trial

Background

Deprescribing is effective and safe in reducing polypharmacy among the elderly. However, the impact of deprescribing rounds remain unclear in Asian settings. Hence, we conducted this study.

Methods

An open label randomised controlled trial was conducted on patients of 65 years and above, under rehabilitation or subacute care and with prespecified medications from a Singapore rehabilitation hospital. They were randomised using a computer generated sequence.

The intervention consisted of weekly multidisciplinary team-led deprescribing rounds (using five steps of deprescribing) and usual care. The control had only usual care.

The primary outcome is the percentage change in total daily dose (TDD) from baseline upon discharge, while the secondary outcomes are the total number of medicine, total daily cost and TDD up to day 28 postdischarge, overall side-effect rates, rounding time and the challenges. Efficacy outcomes were analysed using intention-to-treat while other outcomes were analysed as per protocol.

Results

260 patients were randomised and 253 were analysed after excluding dropouts (female: 57.3%; median age: 76 years). Baseline characteristics were largely similar in both groups. The intervention arm (n = 126) experienced a greater reduction of TDD on discharge [Median (IQR): − 19.62% (− 34.38, 0.00%) versus 0.00% (− 12.00, 6.82%); p < 0.001], more constipation (OR: 3.75, 95% CI:1.75–8.06, p < 0.001) and laxative re-prescriptions (OR: 2.82, 95% CI:1.30–6.12, p = 0.009) though death and hospitalisation rates were similar. The median rounding time was 7.09 min per patient and challenges include the inconvenience in assembling the multidisciplinary team.

Conclusion

Deprescribing rounds can safely reduce TDD of medicine upon discharge compared to usual care in a Singaporean rehabilitation hospital.

Trial registration

This study is first registered at Clinicaltrials.gov (protocol number: NCT03713112) on 19/10/2018 and the protocol can be accessed on https://www.clinicaltrials.gov.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12877-021-02507-0.

Prevalence and Associated Factors of Polypharmacy in Nursing Home Residents: A Cross-Sectional Study

In Spain, there has been a progressive increase in aging. Specifically, Leon has been one of the Spanish provinces with the highest aging index. Polypharmacy is highly prevalent among the elderly, with significant consequences for safety. The aim of this study was to assess the consumption of drugs in a nursing home in the province of Leon and establish the relationship between polypharmacy and the most common comorbid diseases. A descriptive, observational, and cross-sectional study design was used. Residents' information and treatments were collected by reviewing on medical charts, completed with clinical information obtained from the physician of the nursing home. The mean age of residents was 86.8 years, and 63.8% were female. Mean medical consumption amounted to 7.02 prescriptions. Polypharmacy was observed in 54.9% of residents, and excessive polypharmacy in 22.1%. The most commonly used medications (ATC classification) were those acting on the cardiovascular system (84.4%) and the nervous system (82.8%). A high-level of drug consumption was observed in the nursing home. Interventions should focus on those residents hospitalized the last year and with recent contact with a general practitioner. There is a need to develop a comprehensive monitoring system to assess the quality of prescriptions for nursing home residents.

Effectiveness and feasibility of deprescribing of symptomatic medications in a Singapore rehabilitation hospital

Introduction:

This study aims to determine the effectiveness, cost savings and feasibility of implementing a systematic process of deprescribing medications for symptomatic management, namely, acid suppressants, laxatives, analgesics and antiemetics for patients of a Singapore rehabilitation hospital.

Methods:

A total of 200 patients were randomized to a deprescribing intervention ( n = 100) or control (usual care) group ( n = 100). The patient-centred deprescribing process was utilized. Symptomatic medications were deprescribed following initial pharmacist assessment, discussion with doctors and consideration of patients’ preferences regarding discontinuation or dose reduction. Symptom recurrence, adverse drug withdrawal events (ADWEs) and the need for drug re-initiation or initiation of new symptomatic medications after deprescribing were monitored in the first, second and sixth weeks.

Results:

The mean age of patients was 72.8 years and 68.6 years in the intervention and control groups. There were no significant reductions in the monthly cost and total number of medications between both intervention and control groups. Systematic deprescribing of acid suppressants was the highest among the four target drug classes. Recurrence of pain and re-initiation of analgesics occurred in two out of seven cases of discontinuation. However, no ADWEs or constipation were noted in the intervention group. On average, a total of 19 minutes was required by pharmacists and doctors to complete the deprescribing process.

Conclusion:

The systematic deprescribing of symptomatic medications did not reduce costs nor the total number of medications. The risk of symptom recurrence and adverse events was negligible. Knowledge, attitudes and collaboration among healthcare professionals regarding deprescribing are critical.

Trial registration:

Clinicaltrials.gov, number NCT03354845.

A systematic review of the emerging definition of 'deprescribing' with network analysis: implications for future research and clinical practice

AIMS

The aim of this study was to identify what definitions have been published for the term 'deprescribing', and determine whether a unifying definition could be reached. A secondary aim was to uncover patterns between the published definitions which could explain any variation.

METHODS

Systematic literature searches were performed (earliest records to February 2014) in MEDLINE, Embase, CINAHL, Informit, Scopus and Google Scholar. The terms deprescrib* or de-prescrib* were employed as a keyword search in all fields. Conventional content analysis and word frequencies were used to identify characteristics of the definitions. Network analysis was conducted to visualize characteristic distribution across authors and articles.

RESULTS

Following removal of duplicates, 231 articles were retrieved, 37 of which included a definition. Eight characteristics of the definitions were identified: use of the term stop/withdraw/cease/discontinue (35 articles), aspect of prescribing included e.g. long term therapy/inappropriate medications (n = 18), use of the term 'process' or 'structured' (n = 13), withdrawal is planned/supervised/judicious (n = 11), involving multiple steps (n = 7), includes dose reduction/substitution (n = 7), desired goals/outcomes described (n = 5) and involves tapering (n = 4). Network analysis did not reveal patterns responsible for variations in previously used definitions.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings show that there is lack of consensus on the definition of deprescribing. This article proposes the following definition: 'Deprescribing is the process of withdrawal of an inappropriate medication, supervised by a health care professional with the goal of managing polypharmacy and improving outcomes'. This definition has not yet been externally validated and further work is required to develop an internationally accepted and appropriate definition.