Title: Analysis of the use of potentially inappropriate cardiovascular drugs in seniors in acute care in the project EUROAGEISM H2020 Author: Petra Gajdošová Department: Department of Social and Clinical Pharmacy Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. PharmDr. Daniela Fialová PhD. ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION: Population aging is a global problem for which all health and social systems of all countries needs be prepared, including the Czech Republic. It is assumed that in 2050 every third citizen of the Czech Republic will be 65 years and older. The group of seniors is characterized by high polymorbidity and polypharmacotherapy. Prescription of drugs is also very complicated in seniors due to changes accompanying aging (at the level of pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics and homeostasis). The aim of this diploma thesis was to determinate the prevalence of potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs) from the cardiovascular system (CVS) using the best-known explicit criteria of PIMs in the Czech sample of seniors in acute care assessed during the FIP7 program of the EUROAGEISM H2020 project. METHODOLOGY: Data collection was held during the FIP7 program of the EUROAGEISM H2020 project in acute care in seniors aged 65 years and over in two health facilities in Brno and Hradec Králové (HK) in the Czech Republic from August 2018 to...

Introduction: As the population is aging and the number of the seniors is rising, the importance of knowledge and methods of geriatry and gerontology grows bigger. The seniors represent highly specified group of patients whose health care and treatment should be paid especial attention. Multimorbidity, polypharmacotherapy and an enlarged risk of adverse drug events often make such treatment more complicated. Complex geriatric assessment and acceptance of principals of geriatric prescription both represent key values of rational treatment. This thesis is dedicated to the issue of insomnia and rating of sedative/hypnotic treatment in the czech sample of seniors in acute care. Methodology: The data for this thesis were collected between the years 2018-2019 within EUROAGEISM H2020 project. They include information on 438 patients 65 years of age and older which was collected from three geriatric medical acute care centres in Czech republic (Prague, Brno, Hradec Králové) and gained from the medical documentation combined with the information from patient and medical staff themselves, which were interviewed with use of standardized questionnaire of the EUROAGEISM H2020 research project. The questionnaire was composed from sociodemographic characteristics, assesment of functional ability, nutrition state...

INTRODUCTION The deepening process of demographic aging has a significant impact on all areas of the society. With increasing age, the presence of illness, as well as the amount of used drugs increases. The most commonly prescribed drugs are often proton pump inhibitors, which play an irreplaceable role in the treatment of many gastrointestinal diseases. The trend of the overuse of proton pump inhibitors as the main antisecretory drugs is mainly related to their long-term administration in the prophylaxis of concurrent use of gastrotoxic drugs. The aim of this work was to evaluate the rationality of use of proton pump inhibitors including indications, administered dosages and duration of treatment. METHODS The data collected and used in this work are a part of the FIP7 project of the EUROAGEISM H2020 program. The study involved 438 geriatric patients in acute care institutions in Brno, Prague, and Hradec Králové, who were hospitalized between August 2018 and January 2019. The inclusion criteria were age over 65 years and adherence to inclusion criteria of the study. Seniors with severe cognitive impairment (MMSE < 10 points), memory impairment, speech or hearing impairment, patients hospitalized in the intensive care unit and in the terminal stage of the disease were excluded from the study. Data...

Title: Ageing of the population and use of low-dose drug regimens in older patients (ii.) Author: Jana Koleníková Tutor: Assoc. Prof. Daniela Fialová, PharmD, Ph.D. University: Charles University Faculty: Faculty of Pharmacy in Hradec Králové Department: Department of Social and Clinical Pharmacy Introduction: Proportion of seniors in the population is increasing worldwide, therefore rational pharmacotherapy in older adults is more emphasized. The drug pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics change in older age due to physiological and pathological changes, but also due to frequent polymorbidity and polypharmacotherapy. The use of certain medicines is therefore considered risky in seniors. For this reason, explicit expert criteria of medications potentially inappropriate in the aged (so called PIMs) have been created in many countries. Considering the fact that seniors were usually not included in randomized controlled trials, information about specific dosing in older adults for many medications is not stated in Summary of Product Characteristics (SmPCs) which provide basic information on effective and safe administration of medicines. The aim of the diploma thesis was to clarify whether in case of PIMs specific information about geriatric dosing is stated in SmPCs, or at least general warnings that...

Institution/department: Charles University, Faculty of Pharmacy in Hradec Králové, Department of Social and Clinical Pharmacy Title of diploma thesis: Rationality of benzodiazepine use in older patients Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Daniela Fialová, PharmDr. Ph.D. Author: Adriana Magátová Introduction: Benzodiazepines are one of the most commonly prescribed potentially inappropriate drugs (PIMs) in geriatric patients in Europe and are responsible for common problems associated with risky drug prescription in older age (eg, cognitive impairment, falls, orthostatic hypotension, drug dependence, and others). Physiological and pathophysiological changes associated with the aging process, as well as frequent polymorbidity and polypharmacotherapy, are associated with more frequent occurrence of drug-related complications in older age. With the growing proportion of geriatric population, the importance of preventing drug complications in older adults increases. The aim of this study was to compare prescribing habits in the use of BZD and in the use of drug combinations with sedative potential and to determine the association of their use with drug-related risks in geriatric patients in community pharmacy practice in Spain (SP) and the Czech Republic (CZ) and in groups of patients assessed in various healthcare settings...

Yes / Proactive deprescribing - identifying and discontinuing medicines where harms outweigh benefits - can minimise problematic polypharmacy, but has yet to be implemented into routine practice. Normalisation process theory (NPT) can provide a theory-informed understanding of the evidence base on what impedes or facilitates the normalisation of routine and safe deprescribing in primary care. This study systematically reviews the literature to identify barriers and facilitators to implementing routine safe deprescribing in primary care and their effect on normalisation potential using NPT.PubMed, MEDLINE, Embase, Web of Science, International Pharmaceutical Abstracts, CINAHL, PsycINFO and The Cochrane Library were searched (1996-2022). Studies of any design investigating the implementation of deprescribing in primary care were included. The Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool and the Quality Improvement Minimum Quality Criteria Set were used to appraise quality. Barriers and facilitators from included studies were extracted and mapped to the constructs of NPT. A total of 12,027 articles were identified, 56 articles included. In total, 178 barriers and 178 facilitators were extracted and condensed into 14 barriers and 16 facilitators. Common barriers were negative deprescribing perceptions and suboptimal deprescribing environments, while common facilitators were structured education and training on proactive deprescribing and utilising patient-centred approaches. Very few barriers and facilitators were associated with reflexive monitoring, highlighting a paucity of evidence on how deprescribing interventions are appraised. Through NPT, multiple barriers and facilitators were identified that impede or facilitate the implementation and normalisation of deprescribing in primary care. However, more research is needed into the appraisal of deprescribing post-implementation. / This research was funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Yorkshire and Humber Patient Safety Translational Research Centre (NIHR Yorkshire and Humber PSTRC).

Les sujets résidant dans les établissements d'hébergement pour personnes âgées dépendantes (EHPAD) sont fréquemment exposés à une polypathologie et sont polymédiqués, ce qui augmente le risque de prescriptions potentiellement inappropriées (PPI) et ainsi le risque d'événements iatrogènes tels que le décès et l'hospitalisation. La plupart des études réalisées en France sur la PPI se sont focalisées sur des classes médicamenteuses précises, et peu ont évalué l'impact des caractéristiques structurelles et organisationnelles des EHPAD sur la PPI des résidents, indépendamment des caractéristiques individuelles. Cette thèse a eu pour objectif de développer un nouvel indicateur de PPI, reflétant au mieux la prise en charge médicamenteuse globale des résidents d'EHPAD. Les travaux de thèse ont été réalisés sur un échantillon issu de l'étude IQUARE (Impact d'une démarche QUAlité sur l'évolution des pratiques et le déclin fonctionnel des REsidents), étude quasi expérimentale (NCT01703689) évaluant l'impact d'une intervention basée sur l'éducation gériatrique du personnel de l'EHPAD sur des indicateurs de qualité des soins. Dans un premier temps, nous avons construit un outil original de détection de PPI, combinant des critères explicites et implicites, identifiant 71% des résidents avec une PPI à l'inclusion. Des caractéristiques organisationnelle (accès à un avis psychiatrique) et structurelle (présence d'une unité de soins spécialisée) de l'EHPAD expliquaient une part de cette PPI. Dans un second temps, afin de valider la pertinence de cet outil, nous avons évalué l'impact clinique de la PPI sur la survenue d'événements indésirables au cours du suivi. Nous n'avons pas retrouvé de risque augmenté de décès ou d'hospitalisation. Enfin, l'intervention gériatrique générale de l'étude IQUARE a significativement réduit la PPI des résidents à 18 mois. Ces travaux ont fourni des éléments importants à prendre en considération, lors de la construction de nouvelles études visant à modifier les pratiques de prescription et à réduire le nombre de médicaments prescrits chez les résidents d'EHPAD, mais aussi pour déterminer l'impact clinique de ces changements. / Older people living in nursing homes (NHs) suffer from numerous comorbidities and functional decline. Polymedication is frequent in this population. This increases the risk of potentially inappropriate drug prescribing (PIDP), which can lead to adverse drug events such as falls and hospitalization. Most French studies did not examine PPI with a global perspective, but focused on specific drug classes. Moreover, few studies have investigated, irrespective of the individual characteristics of residents, the structural and organizational characteristics of nursing homes on the quality of drug prescribing. Thesis work aimed to develop a new indicator of PIDP, which best reflects the global medication use of residents. Thesis works have been performed using the data of the IQUARE study (Impact d'une démarche Qualité sur l'évolution des pratiques et le déclin fonctionnel des REsidents), a quasi-experimental study (trial registration number: NCT01703689) investigating the impact of an intervention based on geriatric education with NH staff on quality indicators of care. First, we developed an indicator of PIDP, combining explicit and implicit criteria, identifying 71% of PIDP in NH residents at baseline. NH organizational (access to psychiatric advice and/or to hospitalization in a psychiatric unit) and structural (presence of a special care unit for dements) variables explained part of PIDP. In a second part, in order to validate the usefulness of this PIDP detection tool, we verified the long-term clinical impact of PIDP on adverse outcomes (death, number of hospitalizations...). We did not find any significant association between PIDP and death, nor between PIDP and number of hospitalizations. Finally, the general intervention implemented in the IQUARE study significantly reduced PIDP among NH residents at 18-month follow-up. Our research has provided important aspects that should be consider when constructing further new studies seeking to change prescribing patterns and to reduce the total number of drugs taken, but also to determine the final impact of these changes on clinical outcomes.

No / There is a substantial body of evidence that prescribing for care home residents is suboptimal and requires improvement. Consequently, there is a need to identify effective interventions to optimise prescribing and resident outcomes in this context. OBJECTIVES: The objective of the review was to determine the effect of interventions to optimise prescribing for older people living in care homes. SEARCH METHODS: We searched the Cochrane Effective Practice and Organisation of Care (EPOC) Group Specialised Register; Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), The Cochrane Library (Issue 11, 2012); Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, The Cochrane Library (Issue 11, 2012); MEDLINE OvidSP (1980 on); EMBASE, OvidSP (1980 on); Ageline, EBSCO (1966 on); CINAHL, EBSCO (1980 on); International Pharmaceutical Abstracts, OvidSP (1980 on); PsycINFO, OvidSP (1980 on); conference proceedings in Web of Science, Conference Proceedings Citation Index - SSH & Science, ISI Web of Knowledge (1990 on); grey literature sources and trial registries; and contacted authors of relevant studies. We also reviewed the references lists of included studies and related reviews (search period November 2012). We included randomised controlled trials evaluating interventions aimed at optimising prescribing for older people (aged 65 years or older) living in institutionalised care facilities. Studies were included if they measured one or more of the following primary outcomes, adverse drug events; hospital admissions;mortality; or secondary outcomes, quality of life (using validated instrument); medication-related problems; medication appropriateness (using validated instrument); medicine costs. Two authors independently screened titles and abstracts, assessed studies for eligibility, assessed risk of bias and extracted data. A narrative summary of results was presented. The eight included studies involved 7653 residents in 262 (range 1 to 85) care homes in six countries. Six studies were cluster-randomised controlled trials and two studies were patient-randomised controlled trials. The interventions evaluated were diverse and often multifaceted. Medication review was a component of seven studies, three studies involved multidisciplinary case-conferencing, two studies involved an educational element for care home staff and one study evaluated the use of clinical decision support technology. Due to heterogeneity, results were not combined in a meta-analysis. There was no evidence of an effect of the interventions on any of the primary outcomes of the review (adverse drug events, hospital admissions and mortality). No studies measured quality of life. There was evidence that the interventions led to the identification and resolution of medication-related problems. There was evidence from two studies that medication appropriateness was improved. The evidence for an effect on medicine costs was equivocal. Robust conclusions could not be drawn from the evidence due to variability in design, interventions, outcomes and results. The interventions implemented in the studies in this review led to the identification and resolution of medication-related problems, however evidence of an effect on resident-related outcomes was not found. There is a need for high-quality cluster-randomised controlled trials testing clinical decision support systems and multidisciplinary interventions that measure well-defined, important resident-related outcomes.

Améliorer la qualité de la prise en charge des personnes âgées vivant en EHPAD est un impératif. L'influence des caractéristiques organisationnelles des EHPAD sur la qualité de la prise en charge des résidents est mal connue. Nos travaux de recherche ont porté sur trois objectifs : 1) Rechercher les facteurs organisationnels en EHPAD qui ont un impact sur les prescriptions potentiellement inappropriées de neuroleptiques, ces médicaments faisant l'objet d'une attention particulière chez les personnes âgées en EHPAD ; 2) Déterminer la valeur ajoutée de l'intervention d'un gériatre au sein d'EHPAD pendant 18 mois par rapport à la restitution simple d'un audit qualité, sur les prescriptions potentiellement inappropriées de neuroleptiques ; 3) Proposer des actions concrètes d'amélioration de la prise en charge globale des résidents d'EHPAD concernant notamment les transferts inappropriées des résidents d'EHPAD vers les urgences, et la prévention du déclin fonctionnel des résidents. Pour répondre aux deux premiers objectifs, nous avons utilisé les données de l'étude IQUARE (Impact d'une démarche QUAlité sur l'évolution des pratiques et le déclin fonctionnel des Résidents en EHPAD) un essai multicentrique comparatif ayant pour objectif d'évaluer l'impact d'une intervention globale d'éducation gériatrique pour le personnel d'EHPAD sur des indicateurs de qualité. Pour le troisième objectif, nous proposons d'une part la structuration d'un hôpital de jour ayant pour vocation de ne recevoir que des résidents d'EHPAD avec la possibilité de les prendre en charge dans des délais courts afin de limiter les transferts inappropriés des résidents d'EHPAD vers les urgences. D'autre part, nous avons participé à une task force d'experts composée de médecins gériatres cliniciens et chercheurs dont l'objectif était de proposer des actions de prévention du déclin fonctionnel des résidents d'EHPAD. Sur les 6275 résidents inclus dans IQUARE, 1532 (24.4%) avaient au moins une prescription de neuroleptique parmi lesquels 1019 (66.5%) étaient potentiellement inappropriées. Nous avons montré que les résidents d'EHPAD dans lesquels intervenait un nombre important de médecins généralistes différents (plus de 30 pour 100 lits), étaient plus à risque de recevoir une prescription inappropriée de neuroleptiques que ceux vivant dans des EHPAD avec moins de 10 médecins généralistes pour 100 lits. Dans cette même étude IQUARE, nous n'avons pas mis en évidence d'effet positif de l'intervention d'un gériatre au sein d'EHPAD pendant 18 mois par rapport à la restitution simple d'un audit qualité, sur la réduction des prescriptions inappropriées de neuroleptiques 18 mois plus tard. [...] / Improving the quality of care for nursing home residents is a real concern. A better understanding of the factors determining a good quality of care in nursing homes (NH) is necessary. This thesis deals with three aims: 1) Determining whether facility characteristics - and in particular the number of attending general practitioners (GPs) in NH - are associated with inappropriate neuroleptic prescribing ; 2) Studying the effect of a quality assurance approach in a NH, with or without the intervention of a geriatrician, on potentially inappropriate neuroleptics prescription at 18 months (T18); 3) Offering practical actions improving medical care in NH in order to reduce potentially avoidable transfers to emergency rooms and to prevent disability and functional decline for NH residents. To meet the two first objectives, we used the data from the Impact of a QUAlity exercise study on the change in practices and the functional decline of Residents in EHPAD (IQUARE), a comparative multicenter trial aiming at assessing the impact of a global education intervention for NH staff based on quality indicators. As for the third objective, on the one hand, we implemented a new day hospital characterized by its being exclusively dedicated to NH residents and its ability to provide patient care within a short period of time. On the other hand, we took part in a Task Force discussion of experts in NH care and research, to implement strategies to prevent or to slow disability and functional decline for NH residents.Among the 6275 residents included in IQUARE study, 1532 (24.4%) had at least one prescription for a neuroleptic drug. Compared with nursing homes with <10 GPs/100 beds, nursing homes with more than 30 GPs/100 beds were exposed to a greater risk of potentially inappropriate neuroleptic prescribing. We have not shown the added benefit of geriatrician intervention in a global effort to decrease potentially inappropriate neuroleptic prescribing. This result can be explained by the strong impact of the quality assurance audit restoration at each NH with a 20% decrease of the potentially inappropriate neuroleptic prescribing for the two study groups. Over this thesis, we have opened a responsive day hospital dedicated to NH residents. This day hospital could be a practical response to the problem of inappropriate and avoidable transfers of NH residents to emergency rooms. Improving the quality of care for nursing home residents also means preventing and/or slowing the functional decline of residents. A Task Force of experts emphasized the need for cultural change to incorporate physical activity for nursing home residents and implement multidomain interventions to delay disability. To conclude, this work has identified factors having an influence on potentially inappropriate care and suggests simple areas to improve the quality of care.

Older people admitted to hospital are at high risk of rehospitalization and medication errors. We have demonstrated, in a randomized controlled trial, that a clinical pharmacist intervention reduces the incidence of revisits to hospital for patients aged 80 years or older admitted to an acute internal medicine ward. The aims of this thesis were to further study the effects of the intervention and to investigate possibilities of targeting the intervention by identifying predictors of treatment response or adverse health outcomes. The effect of the pharmacist intervention on the appropriateness of prescribing was assessed, by using three validated tools. This study showed that the quality of prescribing was improved for the patients in the intervention group but not for those in the control group. However, no association between the appropriateness of prescribing at discharge and revisits to hospital was observed. Subgroup analyses explored whether the clinical pharmacist intervention was equally effective in preventing emergency department visits in patients with few or many prescribed drugs and in those with different levels of inappropriate prescribing on admission. The intervention appeared to be most effective in patients taking fewer drugs, but the treatment effect was not altered by appropriateness of prescribing. The most relevant risk factors for rehospitalization and mortality were identified for the same study population, and a score for risk-estimation was constructed and internally validated (the 80+ score). Seven variables were selected. Impaired renal function, pulmonary disease, malignant disease, living in a nursing home, being prescribed an opioid and being prescribed a drug for peptic ulcer or gastroesophageal reflux disease were associated with an increased risk, while being prescribed an antidepressant drug (tricyclic antidepressants not included) was linked with a lower risk. These variables made up the components of the 80+ score. Pending external validation, this score has potential to aid identification of high-risk patients. The last study investigated the occurrence of prescription errors when patients with multi-dose dispensed (MDD) drugs were discharged from hospital. Twenty-five percent of the MDD orders contained at least one medication prescription error. Almost half of the errors were of moderate or major severity, with potential to cause increased health-care utilization.