Evidence map›Paper›PMID 31523334›Full record

ReviewJournal of clinical medicine research2019

Overprescribed Medications for US Adults: Four Major Examples.

Daniel J Safer

Open access · diamondAbstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Journal of clinical medicine research, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
14citing papers in PubMed
2.0field-weighted citation impact, top 14% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

14 citing papers in PubMed, 39 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Observational
  6. Assessing Decision Fatigue in General Practitioners' Prescribing Decisions Using the Australian BEACH Data Set.Medical decision making : an international journal of the Society for Medical Decision Making · 2024
    Article
  7. Article
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. Comparative analysis of PIM criteria and drug labels in the elderly.European journal of clinical pharmacology · 2022
    Article
  11. Article
  12. Observational
  13. Article
  14. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

1 author at 1 institution in 1 country.

Daniel J SaferDepartments of Psychiatry and Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21287, USA. Email: dsafer@jhmi.edu.
Johns Hopkins University · US

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

To understand possible medication overprescribing, it would be important to know which classes are the most prescribed, for which indications, for what duration, and for which age groups. Among the 10 most frequently prescribed medication classes for US adults, four were evaluated for overprescribing, and systematically assessed in relation to their primary indication. The assessment included usage patterns, trends, age of recipients, treatment duration, and benefits versus adverse consequences. The findings in this selective review are supported by an extensive search of the medical literature. The four selected medication categories and their most common indication included opioids for chronic pain, proton pump inhibitors for indigestion, levothyroxine for subclinical hypothyroidism, and antidepressants for subsyndromal levels of depression. These medications, grouped by their most frequent indication along with polypharmacy, have experienced major prescription increases in recent years, particularly among older patients. Most concerning is that they have been frequently prescribed for extended periods, usually with inadequate evidence of benefit. High drug usage patterns can aid in quantifying overprescribing within polypharmacy by age group.

Indexed as

AntidepressantsLevothyroxineOpioidsOvermedicatingOverprescribingPolypharmacyProton pump inhibitors

Identifiers

PMID31523334
PMCPMC6731049
OpenAlexW2970556421

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.