On 4 January, a group of researchers from the University of Hull (UK), published a systematic review on the identification of potentially inappropriate prescribing (PIP) in older people with dementia in the European Journal of Clinical Pharmacology.
The research group aimed to provide a first systematic view on how tools are being used to study PIP in elderly people living with dementia. This included:
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the description and summary of studies in which a published tool for the identification of PIP in people living with dementia was used,
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reporting the prevalence of PIP as well as the medications that were deemed inappropriate, and to
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provide an insight into the possible advantages but also pitfalls respectively complications that may arise by the use of the tools identified.
Out of the identified 3326 unique papers, the researchers reviewed 26 relevant articles. The group concluded that there is a varying prevalence of PIP ranging from a low of 14% to a high of 74% in older people with dementia. The most commonly identified potentially inappropriately prescribed medications were; Benzodiazepines, hypnotics and anticholinergics.
Furthermore, their review found that the most used tool for the identification was the Beers criteria. Although, most studies used more than one tool, the authors recommended that a more standardised tool usage whilst ensuring that it is inclusive enough to capture all potentially inappropriate medications will be used in future studies.