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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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Home-based medication review in a high risk elderly population in primary care
— the POLYMED randomised controlled trial | | Author(s) | Elizabeth Lenaghan, Richard Holland, Alison Brooks |
| Journal title | Age and Ageing, vol 36, no 3, May 2007 |
| Pages | pp 292-297 |
| Source | http://www.ageing.oupjournals.org |
| Keywords | Drugs ; General practice ; Admission [hospitals] ; Clinical surveys ; North Norfolk. |
| Annotation | Home-based medication review by pharmacists does not appear to reduce hospital admissions. In this study, 136 patients aged 80+ living at home, taking four or more medications and with at least one medication-related risk factor were recruited from a dispensing general practice with 9 general practitioners (GPs) in rural North Norfolk. The intervention comprised two home visits by a community pharmacist who educated the patient/carer about their medicines, noted any pharmaceutical care issues, assessed need for an adherence and, subsequently met with the local GP to agree on actions. After 6 months, 20 of the intervention group and 21 controls had been admitted to hospital; nor was there much difference in care home admissions and deaths between groups. There was a small (non-significant) decrease in quality of life in the intervention group. There was a statistically significant reduction in the mean number of medicines prescribed (-0.87) to intervention group members. No positive impact on clinical outcomes or quality of life were demonstrated; however, this intervention did appear to reduce prescribing. This is in line with other evidence and suggests that this form of intervention may not have a clear health gain, but may lead to modest savings in terms of reduced prescribing. Medication review services in primary care should focus on at-risk populations rather than older people in general. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-070521217 A |
| Classmark | LLD: L5: LD:QKH: 3G: 8NL |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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