Regional variation in potentially inappropriate medicine use in older adults. - A national register-based cross-sectional study on economic, health system-related and patient-related characteristics

Regional variation of potentially inappropriate medication use and associated factors among older adults: A nationwide register study

BACKGROUND

Certain medications should be used with caution in older persons, which challenges rational prescribing. Potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs) are defined as medicines whose potential risk of harm typically outweighs the clinical benefits in geriatric population. Earlier studies have found regional differences in PIM use, but the factors underlying this phenomenon are unclear.

OBJECTIVE

To compare prescription PIM prevalence among Finnish hospital districts and determine which population characteristics and factors related to social and health care are associated with regional variation.

METHODS

This nationwide register study was based on the Prescription Centre data on all people aged ≥75 years in 2017-2019. Hospital district (n = 20) characteristics were drawn from the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare's, Finnish Medical Association's, and Finnish Medicines Agency's publicly open data. PIMs were defined according to the Finnish Meds75+ database. A linear mixed-effect model was used to analyze potential associations of regional characteristics with PIM prevalence.

RESULTS

Prevalence of PIMs varied between 16.4% and 24.8% across regions. The highest prevalence was observed in the southern regions, while the lowest prevalence was on the west coast. Hospital district characteristics associated with higher PIM prevalence were higher share of population living alone, with excessive polypharmacy, or assessed using the Resident Assessment Instrument, shortage of general practitioners in municipal health centers, and low share of home care personnel. Waiting time in health care or share of population with morbidities were not associated with PIM use. Of the total variance in PIM prevalence, 86% was explained by group-level factors related to hospital districts. The regional variables explained 75% of this hospital-district-level variation.

CONCLUSIONS

PIM prevalence varied significantly across hospital districts. Findings suggest that higher PIM prevalence may be related to challenges in the continuity of care rather than differences in health care accessibility or share of the population with morbidities.

Impact of the publication of the Finnish Meds75+ database on the use of potentially inappropriate medications in older persons

AIMS

To evaluate the impact of the updated nationwide Meds75+ database and its linkage to the Finnish health portal on the use of potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs) among older persons. We also aimed to evaluate whether there is regional variation in trend changes of PIM use.

METHODS

Meds75+ was implemented at the population level in 2015, so randomization is unfeasible. We used a quasi-experimental interrupted time series analysis to evaluate the changes in levels and trends of PIM use. The data included all Finnish community-dwelling persons aged ≥75 years (N = 920 163) who had medication purchases in the Prescription Register during 2009-2020. Data were linked with the Care Registers for Health and Social Care and the cause of death register.

RESULTS

The prevalence of PIMs decreased from 20.2% in 2009 to 11.7% in 2020. The change of level of the monthly PIM users was negative (β -0.036, 95% confidence interval [CI] -0.202 to 0.131), but not statistically significant (P = .673) after the publication of the database. We found a small decrease (β -0.018, 95% CI -0.083 to 0.047, P = .593) in the slope of PIM users, but it was not statistically significant. The regional results were similar to the main findings.

CONCLUSIONS

Publication of the updated Meds75+ database did not decrease the level or trend of PIM users. In addition, this study did not show any significant regional variation in PIM use trends. Further research should focus on determining barriers and facilitators to the utilization of PIM criteria in clinical practice.

Evaluation of Factors Associated With Appropriate Drug Prescription and Effectiveness of Informative and Educational Interventions—The EDU.RE.DRUG Project

Background: EDU.RE.DRUG study is a prospective, multicentre, open-label, parallel-arm, controlled, pragmatic trial directed to general practitioners (GPs) and their patients.

Methods: The study data were retrieved from health-related administrative databases of four local health units (LHUs) of Lombardy and four LHUs in Campania. According to the LHUs, the GPs/patients were assigned to (A) intervention on both GPs (feedback reports about appropriate prescribing among their patients and online courses) and patients (flyers and posters on proper drug use), (B) intervention on GPs, (C) intervention on patients, and (D) no intervention (control arm). A set of appropriate prescribing indicators (potential drug–drug interactions [pDDIs], potential and unnecessary therapeutic duplicates [pTDs], and inappropriate prescriptions in the elderly [ERD-list]) were measured at baseline and after the intervention phase. The effectiveness of the intervention was evaluated estimating the absolute difference in percentages of selected indicators carrying out linear random-intercept mixed-effect models.

Results: A cohort of 3,586 GPs (2,567 in intervention groups and 1,019 in the control group) was evaluated. In Campania, the mean pre-intervention percentage of patients with at least one pDDI was always greater than 20% and always lower than 15% in Lombardy. The pre–post difference was quite heterogeneous among the LHUs, ranging from 1.9 to −1.4 percentage points. The mean pre-intervention percentage of patients with pTDs ranged from 0.59 to 2.1%, with slightly higher values characterizing Campania LHUs. The magnitude of the pre–post difference was very low, ranging from −0.11 to 0.20. In Campania, the mean pre-intervention percentage of patients with at least one ERD criterium was considerably higher than in Lombardy (approximately 30% in Lombardy and 50% in Campania). The pre–post difference was again quite heterogeneous. The results from the models accounting for GP geographical belonging suggested that none of the interventions resulted in a statistically significant effect, for all the three indicators considered.

Conclusion: The proposed strategy was shown to be not effective in influencing the voluntary changes in GP prescription performance. However, the use of a set of explicit indicators proved to be useful in quantifying the inappropriateness. Further efforts are needed to find more efficient strategies and design more tailored interventions.