Guest Editors:
Kinda Ibrahim: University of Southampton, UK
Lisa Kouladjian O’Donnell: University of Syndey, Australia
This collection is no longer accepting submissions.
BMC Geriatrics is calling for submissions to our Collection on Polypharmacy and Deprescribing. We are interested in attracting a wide range of submissions relating to polypharmacy and deprescribing to address the current gaps and challenges in research and implementation in clinical practice.
Kinda Ibrahim: University of Southampton, UK
Dr Kinda Ibrahim is a Pharmacist and Senior Lecturer, working in Academic Geriatric Medicine at the University of Southampton. She is also the deputy lead for the NIHR Wessex Applied Research Collaboration (ARC) Ageing and Dementia Theme and the ARC Wessex Associate Lead for Career Development. Kinda’s research is focused on Medicine Optimisation and Deprescribing among older patients, with a specific focus on those living with frailty who are taking multiple medications. She co-chairs the Network for European Researchers in Deprescribing (NERD) steering committee and is a key member of the joint AHSN/ARC Wessex Medicine Optimisation network and the European Geriatric Medicine Society (EUGMS) Polypharmacy Special Interest Group which bring together national and international researchers interested in deprescribing.
Lisa Kouladjian O’Donnell: University of Syndey, AustraliaDr Lisa Kouladjian O’Donnell is a Research Fellow in Geriatric Pharmacotherapy, Faculty of Medicine and Health, The University of Sydney, and Kolling Institute, Royal North Shore Hospital, New South Wales, Australia. Her research focuses on optimising quality use of medicines in older adults with particular interests in developing and translating digital health tools into clinical practice. Her work on The Drug Burden Index Calculator © and The Goal-directed Medication review Electronic Decision Support System (G-MEDSS) © are clear examples of developing medication management tools for clinicians and translational into practice.
BMC Geriatrics is calling for submissions to our Collection on Polypharmacy and Deprescribing.
The consequences of ageing can often result in the diagnosis of multiple chronic conditions, also known as multimorbidity leading to prescribing multiple medications (polypharmacy). Recently, it has been distinguished that sometimes polypharmacy is appropriate but most often, especially in older age, a medication that was at one point needed may become less needed or unsafe. It is estimated that more than 50% of older people are prescribed at least one medication with more harm than benefit. Inappropriate polypharmacy is associated with significant poor health outcomes such as injurious falls, cognitive impairment, hospitalization, and death, and can lead to wasteful healthcare expenditure.
Optimisation of medication prescribing has become a major public-health issue worldwide, particularly in older people, and the reduction and prevention of medication-induced harm is now classified as one of global health priorities of the World Health Organisation (WHO). Deprescribing, the process of withdrawing medications, under the supervision of a healthcare practitioner, which may no longer be of benefit or may be causing harm, may be a solution to polypharmacy, but is often hard to initiate and maintain. There has been an increasing body of research around deprescribing of medications in older people over the last 15 years. Yet, there is still a lack of a common understanding of what are the best practices or approaches for implementing deprescribing in different cultures, healthcare systems, and clinical settings. This is particularly important, as deprescribing requires complex changes to established patterns of behaviour at the individual, organisational, and systems levels. Effective deprescribing should be a patient-centred approach that involves participation by patients and/or relatives and carers, good prescriber/patient relationships and communication, and shared decision making.
Within this collection at BMC Geriatrics, we are interested in attracting a wide range of submissions relating to polypharmacy and deprescribing to address the current gaps and challenges in research and implementation in clinical practice. The span of articles may be preclinical and clinical studies, to epidemiological and implementation research and strategies.
Definition of Polypharmacy
Patient-focused interventions
Implementation research
Effectiveness and safety of deprescribing
Evidence shows that potentially inappropriate medication (PIM) use in older adults significantly increases the utilization of healthcare resources. PIM is widely prescribed in older adults, however little is k...
It is well known that polypharmacy is associated with adverse drug events. Accordingly, specialist geriatric units have to pay particular attention to the appropriateness of prescription and the withdrawal of ...
As health reforms move Ireland from a mixed public-private system toward universal healthcare, it is important to understand variations in prescribing practice for patients with differing health cover and soci...
Polypharmacy is a growing and major public health issue. It can be burdensome and risky for patients and costly to healthcare systems. Older adults and those from ethnic minority backgrounds are disproportiona...
Older adults living with dementia may express challenging responsive behaviours. One management strategy is pharmacologic treatment though these options often have limited benefit, which may lead to multiple t...
Potentially inappropriate medication use is prevalent among older adults in primary care, leading to increased morbidity, adverse drug reactions, hospitalizations, and mortality. This study aimed to develop an...
A third of older people take five or more regular medications (polypharmacy). Conducting medication reviews in primary care is key to identify and reduce/ stop inappropriate medications (deprescribing). Recent...
Nursing home (NH) residents with severe dementia use many medications, sometimes inappropriately within a comfort care approach. Medications should be regularly reviewed and eventually deprescribed. This pragm...
On average, older patients use five or more medications daily. A consequence is an increased risk of adverse drug reactions, interactions, or medication errors. Therefore, it is important to understand the cha...
Efforts are needed to strengthen evidence and guidance for appropriate deprescribing for older nursing home (NH) residents, who are disproportionately affected by polypharmacy and inappropriate prescribing. Gi...
Medication reviews in primary care provide an opportunity to review and discuss the safety and appropriateness of a person’s medicines. However, there is limited evidence about access to and the impact of rout...
Use of anticholinergic (ACH) medications is associated with increased risk of cognitive decline in the elderly. However, little is known about this association from a health plan perspective.
Clinical evidence demonstrating a longitudinal association between prescribed medications and sarcopenia onset is lacking. We investigated the association of polypharmacy (the use of five or more medications) ...
Shared decision-making(SDM) is recognized as an important means of managing polypharmacy among older people with chronic diseases. However, no studies have quantitatively measured the effect of SDM on polyphar...
Falls are dangerous to the health of older adults and can impact their functional status leading to frailty. The use of potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs) among older adults may lead to adverse healt...
Polypharmacy is a growing public health problem occurring in all healthcare settings worldwide. Elderly patients with lumbar spinal canal stenosis (LSS) who manifest low back and neuropathic pain and have a hi...
Socioeconomic status (SES) may influence prescribing, concordance and adherence to medication regimens. This review set out to investigate the association between polypharmacy and an individual’s socioeconomic...
Deprescribing of preventive medication is recommended in older patients with polypharmacy, including people with type 2 diabetes (T2D). It seems that many patients in low-middle-income countries are not willin...
The Correction to this article has been published in BMC Geriatrics 2022 22:777
Polypharmacy is commonly associated with adverse health outcomes. There are currently no meta-analyses of the prevalence of polypharmacy or factors associated with polypharmacy. We aimed to estimate the pooled...
The Correction to this article has been published in BMC Geriatrics 2022 22:742
Polypharmacy is a serious concern among older adults and is frequently related to adverse outcomes, including health problems, reduced quality of life, and increased medical expenses. Although personality trai...
In older patients with polypharmacy and multiple comorbidities, even low grades of statin-associated muscle symptoms may have clinical implications. The aim of this study was therefore to investigate the poten...
Polypharmacy is common in people with dementia. The use of psychotropic drugs (PDs) and other, potentially inappropriate medications is high. The aims of this cross-sectional study were 1) to investigate the u...
Older adults receive treatment for fall injuries in both inpatient and outpatient settings. The effect of persistent polypharmacy (i.e. using multiple medications over a long period) on fall injuries is unders...
Evidence regarding clinically relevant effects of interventions aiming at reducing polypharmacy is weak, especially for the primary care setting. This study was initiated with the objective to achieve clinical...