Int J Clin Pharm. 2022 Sep 17. doi: 10.1007/s11096-022-01447-y. Online ahead of print.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Of all hospital admissions in older patients, 10-30% seem to be medication-related. However, medication-related admissions are often unidentified in clinical practice. To increase the identification of medication-related hospital admissions in older patients a triggerlist is published in the Dutch guideline for polypharmacy.
AIM: To assess whether the triggerlist has value as selection criterion to identify patients at high risk of medication-related hospital admissions.
METHOD: This retrospective cohort study was carried out in 100 older (≥ 60 years) patients with polypharmacy and having two triggers from the triggerlist. The admissions were assessed as either possibly or unlikely medication-related according to the Assessment Tool for identifying Hospital Admissions Related to Medications.
RESULTS: Of all the admissions 48% were classified as possibly medication-related. Patients with a possible medication-related hospital admission were more likely to have an impaired renal function (p = 0.015), but no differences with regard to age, sex, comorbidity or number of medicines were found.
CONCLUSION: The high prevalence of medication-related hospital admissions, suggests the triggerlist may have added value as selection criterion in a cohort of older patients with polypharmacy and can be used to improve the identification of a population at high risk of medication-related hospital admissions.
PMID:36115001 | DOI:10.1007/s11096-022-01447-y
