TY - JOUR
T1 - Relationship between frailty and drug use among nursing homes residents
T2 - results from the SHELTER study
AU - Villani, Emanuele Rocco
AU - Vetrano, Davide Liborio
AU - Liperoti, Rosa
AU - Palmer, Katie
AU - Denkinger, Michael
AU - van der Roest, Henriëtte G.
AU - Bernabei, Roberto
AU - Onder, Graziano
N1 - Funding Information:
The corresponding author affirms that he has listed everyone who contributed significantly to the work.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG part of Springer Nature.
PY - 2021/10
Y1 - 2021/10
N2 - Background: 1.5–8% of older adults live in nursing homes (NHs), presenting a high prevalence of frailty and polypharmacy. Aims: To investigate the association of frailty with polypharmacy and drug prescription patterns in a sample of European Nursing Home (NH) residents. Methods: Cross-sectional study based on the data from the Services and Health for Elderly in Long TERm care (SHELTER) study. 4121 NH residents in Europe and Israel. Residents’ clinical, cognitive, social, and physical status were evaluated with the InterRAI LTCF tool, which allows comprehensive, standardized evaluation of persons living in NH. Polypharmacy and hyperpolypharmacy were defined as the concurrent use of ≥ 5 and ≥ 10 medications. Frailty was defined according to the FRAIL-NH scale. Results: Of 4121 participants, 46.6% were frail (mean age 84.6 ± 9.2 years; 76.4% female). Polypharmacy and hyperpolypharmacy were associated with a lower likelihood of frailty (Odds Ratio = 0.72; 95% CI = 0.59–0.87 and OR = 0.75; 95% CI = 0.60–0.94, respectively). Patterns of drug prescriptions were different between frail and non-frail residents. Symptomatic drugs (laxatives, paracetamol, and opioids) were more frequently prescribed among frail residents, while preventive drugs (bisphosphonates, vitamin D, and acetylsalicylic acid) were more frequently prescribed among non-frail residents. Conclusions: Frailty is associated with less polypharmacy and with higher prevalence of symptomatic drugs use among NH residents. Further studies are needed to define appropriateness of drug prescription in frail individuals.
AB - Background: 1.5–8% of older adults live in nursing homes (NHs), presenting a high prevalence of frailty and polypharmacy. Aims: To investigate the association of frailty with polypharmacy and drug prescription patterns in a sample of European Nursing Home (NH) residents. Methods: Cross-sectional study based on the data from the Services and Health for Elderly in Long TERm care (SHELTER) study. 4121 NH residents in Europe and Israel. Residents’ clinical, cognitive, social, and physical status were evaluated with the InterRAI LTCF tool, which allows comprehensive, standardized evaluation of persons living in NH. Polypharmacy and hyperpolypharmacy were defined as the concurrent use of ≥ 5 and ≥ 10 medications. Frailty was defined according to the FRAIL-NH scale. Results: Of 4121 participants, 46.6% were frail (mean age 84.6 ± 9.2 years; 76.4% female). Polypharmacy and hyperpolypharmacy were associated with a lower likelihood of frailty (Odds Ratio = 0.72; 95% CI = 0.59–0.87 and OR = 0.75; 95% CI = 0.60–0.94, respectively). Patterns of drug prescriptions were different between frail and non-frail residents. Symptomatic drugs (laxatives, paracetamol, and opioids) were more frequently prescribed among frail residents, while preventive drugs (bisphosphonates, vitamin D, and acetylsalicylic acid) were more frequently prescribed among non-frail residents. Conclusions: Frailty is associated with less polypharmacy and with higher prevalence of symptomatic drugs use among NH residents. Further studies are needed to define appropriateness of drug prescription in frail individuals.
KW - Drug use
KW - Frailty
KW - Polypharmacy
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85101482121&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85101482121&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s40520-021-01797-z
DO - 10.1007/s40520-021-01797-z
M3 - Article
C2 - 33590468
AN - SCOPUS:85101482121
VL - 33
SP - 2839
EP - 2847
JO - Aging clinical and experimental research
JF - Aging clinical and experimental research
SN - 1594-0667
IS - 10
ER -