Safer Prescribing and Care for the Elderly (SPACE): a pilot study in general practice

Contexts and mechanisms relevant to General Practitioner (GP) based interventions to reduce adverse drug events (ADE) in community dwelling older adults: a rapid realist review

Background

Older adults in Ireland are at increased risk of adverse drug events (ADE) due, in part, to increasing rates of polypharmacy. Interventions to reduce ADE in community dwelling older adults (CDOA) have had limited success, therefore, new approaches are required.A realist review uses a different lens to examine why and how interventions were supposed to work rather than if, they worked. A rapid realist review (RRR) is a more focused and accelerated version.The aim of this RRR is to identify and examine the contexts and mechanisms that play a role in the outcomes relevant to reducing ADE in CDOA in the GP setting that could inform the development of interventions in Ireland.

Methods

Six candidate theories (CT) were developed, based on knowledge of the field and recent literature, in relation to how interventions are expected to work. These formed the search strategy. Eighty full texts from 633 abstracts were reviewed, of which 27 were included. Snowballing added a further five articles, relevant policy documents increased the total number to 45. Data were extracted relevant to the theories under iteratively developed sub-themes using NVivo software.

Results

Of the six theories, three theories, relating to GP engagement in interventions, relevance of health policy documents for older adults, and shared decision-making, provided data to guide future interventions to reduce ADEs for CDOA in an Irish setting. There was insufficient data for two theories, a third was rejected as existing barriers in the Irish setting made it impractical to use.

Conclusions

To improve the success of Irish GP based interventions to reduce ADEs for CDOA, interventions must be relevant and easily applied in practice, supported by national policy and be adequately resourced. Future research is required to test our theories within a newly developed intervention.

Contexts and mechanisms relevant to General Practitioner (GP) based interventions to reduce adverse drug events (ADE) in community dwelling older adults: a rapid realist review

Background: Older adults in Ireland are at increased risk of adverse drug events (ADE) due, in part, to increasing rates of polypharmacy. Interventions to reduce ADE in community dwelling older adults (CDOA) have had limited success, therefore, new approaches are required. A realist review uses a different lens to examine why and how interventions were supposed to work rather than if, they worked. A rapid realist review (RRR) is a more focused and accelerated version. The aim of this RRR is to identify and examine the contexts and mechanisms that play a role in the outcomes relevant to reducing ADE in CDOA in the GP setting that could inform the development of interventions in Ireland. Methods: Six candidate theories (CT) were developed, based on knowledge of the field and recent literature, in relation to how interventions are expected to work. These formed the search strategy. Eighty full texts from 633 abstracts were reviewed, of which 27 were included. Snowballing added a further five articles, relevant policy documents increased the total number to 45. Data were extracted relevant to the theories under iteratively developed sub-themes using NVivo software. Results: Of the six theories, three theories, relating to GP engagement in interventions, relevance of health policy documents for older adults, and shared decision-making, provided data to guide future interventions to reduce ADEs for CDOA in an Irish setting. There was insufficient data for two theories, a third was rejected as existing barriers in the Irish setting made it impractical to use. Conclusions: To improve the success of Irish GP based interventions to reduce ADEs for CDOA, interventions must be relevant and easily applied in practice, supported by national policy and be adequately resourced. Future research is required to test our theories within a newly developed intervention.

Safer prescribing and care for the elderly (SPACE): cluster randomised controlled trial in general practice

Background

Safer prescribing in general practice may help to decrease preventable adverse drug events (ADE) and related hospitalisations.

Aim

To test the effect of the Safer Prescribing and Care for the Elderly (SPACE) intervention on high-risk prescribing of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and/or antiplatelet medicines and related hospitalisations.

Design & setting

A pragmatic cluster randomised controlled trial in general practice. Participants were patients at increased risk of ADEs from NSAIDs and/or antiplatelet medicines at baseline. SPACE comprises automated search to generate for each GP a list of patients with high-risk prescribing; pharmacist outreach to provide education and one-on-one review of list with GP; and automated letter inviting patients to seek medication review with their GP.

Method

The primary outcome was the difference in high-risk prescribing of NSAIDs and/or antiplatelet medicines at 6 months. Secondary outcomes were high-risk prescribing for gastrointestinal, renal, or cardiac ADEs separately, 12-month outcomes, and related ADE hospitalisations.

Results

Thirty-nine practices were recruited with 205 GPs and 191 593 patients, of which 21 877 (11.4%) were participants. Of the participants, 1479 (6.8%) had high-risk prescribing. High-risk prescribing improved in both groups at 6 and 12 months compared with baseline. At 6 months, there was no significant difference between groups (odds ratio [OR] 0.99; 95% confidence intervals [CI] = 0.87 to 1.13) although SPACE improved more for gastrointestinal ADEs (OR 0.81; 95% CI = 0.68 to 0.96). At 12 months, the control group improved more (OR 1.29; 95% CI = 1.11 to 1.49). There was no significant difference for related hospitalisations.

Conclusion

Further work is needed to identify scalable interventions that support safer prescribing in general practice. The use of automated search and feedback plus letter to patient warrants further exploration.

Potentially inappropriate primary care prescribing in people with chronic kidney disease: a cross-sectional analysis of a large population cohort

Background

Many drugs should be avoided or require dose-adjustment in chronic kidney disease (CKD). Previous estimates of potentially inappropriate prescribing rates have been based on data on a limited number of drugs, and mainly in secondary care settings.

Aim

To determine the prevalence of contraindicated and potentially inappropriate primary care prescribing in a complete population of people with known CKD.

Design and setting

Cross-sectional study of prescribing patterns in a complete geographical population of people with CKD, defined using laboratory data.

Method

Drugs were organised by British National Formulary advice — contraindicated drugs: ‘avoid’; potentially high-risk (PHR) drugs: ‘avoid if possible’; and dose-inappropriate (DI) drugs: ‘dose exceeded recommended maximums’. CKD was defined as estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) ≤60 ml/min/1.73 m² for >3 months.

Results

In total, 28 489 people with CKD were included in the analysis, of whom 70.1% had CKD stage 3a, 22.4% CKD stage 3b, 5.9% CKD stage 4, and 1.5% CKD stage 5. A total of 3.9% (95% confidence interval [CI] = 3.7 to 4.1) of people with CKD stages 3a–5 were prescribed ≥1 contraindicated drug, 24.3% (95% CI = 23.8 to 24.8) ≥1 PHR drug, and 15.2% (95% CI = 14.8 to 15.6) ≥1 DI drug. Contraindicated drugs differed in prevalence by CKD stage and were most commonly prescribed in CKD stage 4, with a prevalence of 36.0% (95% CI = 33.7 to 38.2). PHR drugs were commonly prescribed in all CKD stages, ranging from 19.4% (95% CI = 17.6 to 21.3) in CKD stage 4 to 25.1% (95% CI = 24.5 to 25.7) in CKD stage 3a. DI drugs were most commonly prescribed in CKD stage 4 (26.4%, 95% CI = 24.3 to 28.6).

Conclusion

Potentially inappropriate prescribing is common at all stages of CKD. Development and evaluation of interventions to improve prescribing safety in this high-risk population are needed.