Inappropriate prescribing leads to poor outcomes in older adults
(HealthDay)—Potentially inappropriate prescribing (PIP) is tied to increased health care utilization and poor outcomes among older individuals seen in primary care practices, according to a review published in the May/June issue of the Annals of Family Medicine.
Tau Ming Liew, from the Institute of Mental Health in Singapore, and colleagues conducted a systematic literature review to determine if PIP is associated with adverse outcomes among older persons seen in primary care.
The researchers identified eight articles (77,624 participants), all of which had a cohort design and low risk for bias. PIP did not affect mortality (risk ratio [RR], 0.98; 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.93 to 1.05). However, PIP was significantly associated with emergency department visits (RR, 1.63; 95 percent CI, 1.32 to 2.00), adverse drug events (RR, 1.34; 95 percent CI, 1.09 to 1.66), functional decline (RR, 1.53; 95 percent CI, 1.08 to 2.18), health-related quality of life (standardized mean difference, −0.26; 95 percent CI, −0.36 to −0.16), and hospitalizations (RR, 1.25; 95 percent CI, 1.09 to 1.44).
"Essentially, the findings showed that the construct of PIP is more than just a consensus of good clinical practice, and they underscored the need to focus on PIP in primary care to improve patient outcomes," the authors write.
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