ArticleEuropean journal of clinical pharmacology2017
Number of medications or number of diseases: what influences underprescribing?
Article in European journal of clinical pharmacology, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Prevalence of potentially inappropriate prescribing in older adults in Central and Eastern Europe: a systematic review and synthesis without meta-analysis.Scientific reports · 2022Pooled it
- Factors associated with potentially inappropriate prescriptions and barriers to medicines optimisation among older adults in primary care settings: a systematic review.Family medicine and community health · 2021Pooled it
- Potentially inappropriate medication use and associated factors among older adults in Ethiopia: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of pharmaceutical policy and practice · 2025Review
- Clinical pharmacist prescriber in primary care in Slovenia: prospective non-randomised interventional study focused on clinical outcomes and quality of life.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2025Article
- Prevalence, Characteristics and Determinants of Polypharmacy Among Elderly Patients Attending Primary Healthcare Centres in Bahrain: A cross-sectional study.Sultan Qaboos University medical journal · 2024Article
- Cohort study investigating gout flares and management in UK general practice.BMC primary care · 2023Article
- Under-prescription of medications in older adults according to START criteria: A cross-sectional study in Lebanon.Health science reports · 2022Article
- The patterns and implications of potentially suboptimal medicine regimens among older adults: a narrative review.Therapeutic advances in drug safety · 2022Review
- Underprescription of medications in older adults: causes, consequences and solutions-a narrative review.European geriatric medicine · 2021Review
- Potential drug interactions with antibacterials in long-term care facilities analyzed by two interaction checkers.International journal of clinical pharmacy · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
Abstract
purposeAn increasing number of older adults suffer from multimorbidity and receive multiple medications. Despite that, underprescribing of potentially beneficial medications is widespread in this population. Our aim was to examine influence of polypharmacy and multimorbidity on the presence of prescribing omissions (PO) in general practice attenders.
methodsWe conducted a cross-sectional study of older adults attending general practices in Slovenia who were regularly prescribed at least one medication. Patients' data was entered into a computer application evaluating the presence of START (Screening Tool to Alert doctors to Right Treatment) criteria for PO. Demographic data, CIRS-G (Cumulative Illness Rating Scale for geriatric patients) questionnaire, number of medications, and healthcare utilization data were also collected. We defined polypharmacy as five or more concurrent medications.
resultsFive hundred three patients were enrolled, 258 (56.7%) female. The average age was 74.9 and average value of CIRS-G index 1.48 (± 0.6). Patients took on average 5.6 medications and 216 (42.9%) patients had at least one PO according to START criteria. In bivariate analysis, there was a significant association between age, number of medications, polypharmacy and CIRS-G index measures, and presence of PO. In multivariate analysis, only age and number of affected CIRS-G categories significantly predicted PO (p < 0.05).
conclusionsOlder patients with more affected CIRS-G categories were at higher risk for PO. Polypharmacy was not an independent risk factor for the presence of PO. A possible reason is that in multimorbid older people, physicians and patients set individual priorities to treatment instead of treating all diseases and conditions.
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