ArticleAnnals of family medicine2018
Legacy Drug-Prescribing Patterns in Primary Care.
Article in Annals of family medicine, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 26 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
26 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 52 citations in OpenAlex.
- Approaches for discontinuation versus continuation of long-term antidepressant use for depressive and anxiety disorders in adults.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2021Pooled it
- What should be updated in the WHO guide to good prescribing?European journal of clinical pharmacology · 2026Article
- Structured Online Support to Inform and Assist Antidepressant Deprescribing in Primary Care (WiserAD Tool): Protocol for a Pragmatic Randomized Controlled Trial.JMIR research protocols · 2026Article
- A Gift of the Magi Paradox? Patient and Clinician Perspectives on Deprescribing.Journal of general internal medicine · 2026Article
- Reducing the environmental impact of medications and improving patient outcomes using the ECO-Rx framework.Canadian family physician Medecin de famille canadien · 2026Review
- Drug Coverage Policy and Legacy Prescribing: A Cross-Sectional Analysis in British Columbia.Health science reports · 2026Article
- Deprescribing in primary care.Singapore medical journal · 2025Article
- The implementation and evaluation of the Ontario COVID@Home Clinical Primary Care Pathway.Family practice · 2025Article
- The environmental elephant in the office: medications.Canadian family physician Medecin de famille canadien · 2025Article
- Reducing prescribing cascades.African journal of primary health care & family medicine · 2025Article
- Article
- Post-SSRI sexual dysfunction: barriers to quantifying incidence and prevalence.Epidemiology and psychiatric sciences · 2024Review
- Drug stewardship in chronic kidney disease to achieve effective and safe medication use.Nature reviews. Nephrology · 2024Review
- Exploring the co-occurrence of depression, anxiety and insomnia symptoms, diagnoses and treatments in primary care: observational study using UK primary care data.BJPsych open · 2024Article
- [Prescription of antidepressants in primary care: a descriptive study on medical professionals' confidence].Cadernos de saude publica · 2024Article
- A Proposed Curricular Framework for an Interprofessional Approach to Deprescribing.Medical science educator · 2023Article
- Article
- Telemental Health Collaborative Care Medication Management: Implementation and Outcomes.Telemedicine journal and e-health : the official journal of the American Telemedicine Association · 2022Article
- Pharmacist knowledge of gout management: impact of an educational intervention.BMC rheumatology · 2022Article
- Change in central nervous system-active medication use following fall-related injury in older adults.Journal of the American Geriatrics Society · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposePolypharmacy is a key clinical challenge for primary care. Drugs that should be prescribed for an intermediate term (longer than 3 months, but not indefinitely) that are not appropriately discontinued could contribute to polypharmacy. We named this type of prescribing
methodsWe conducted a population-based retrospective cohort study using prospectively collected data from the McMaster University Sentinel and Information Collaboration (MUSIC) Primary Care Practice Based Research Network, located in Hamilton, Ontario. All adult patients (aged 18 or older) in the MUSIC data set during 2010-2016 were included (N = 50,813). We calculated rates of legacy prescribing of antidepressants (prescription longer than 15 months), bisphosphonates (longer than 5.5 years), and PPIs (longer than 15 months).
resultsThe proportion of patients having a legacy prescription at some time during the study period was 46% (3,766 of 8,119) for antidepressants, 14% (228 of 1,592) for bisphosphonates, and 45% (2,885 of 6,414) for PPIs. Many of these patients held current prescriptions. The mean duration of prescribing for all legacy prescriptions was significantly longer than that for non-legacy prescriptions (
conclusionsThe phenomenon of legacy prescribing appears prevalent. These data demonstrate the potential of legacy prescribing to contribute to unnecessary polypharmacy, providing an opportunity for system-level intervention in primary care with enormous potential benefit for patients.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.