ArticleBMC geriatrics2023
Characterising complex health needs and the use of preventive therapies in the older population: a population-based cohort analysis of UK primary care and hospital linked data.
Article in BMC geriatrics, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed, 10 citations in OpenAlex.
- Analysis of Clinical Characteristics and Treatment Needs in Elderly Patients with Psoriasis Vulgaris: A Single-Centered Retrospective Study.Clinical, cosmetic and investigational dermatology · 2026Article
- Medication Use by Older Adults with Frailty: A Scoping Review.Pharmacy (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Exploring Literature on Data Governance in the Health Care of Older Persons: Scoping Review.JMIR aging · 2025Article
- Inequalities in the prevalence recording of 205 chronic conditions recorded in primary and secondary care for 12 million patients in the English National Health Service.BMC medicine · 2024Article
- Risk of adverse events following the initiation of antihypertensives in older people with complex health needs: a self-controlled case series in the United Kingdom.Age and ageing · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundWhile several definitions exist for multimorbidity, frailty or polypharmacy, it is yet unclear to what extent single healthcare markers capture the complexity of health-related needs in older people in the community. We aimed to identify and characterise older people with complex health needs based on healthcare resource use (unplanned hospitalisations or polypharmacy) or frailty using large population-based linked records.
methodsIn this cohort study, data was extracted from UK primary care records (CPRD GOLD), with linked Hospital Episode Statistics inpatient data. People aged > 65 on 1st January 2010, registered in CPRD for ≥ 1 year were included. We identified complex health needs as the top quintile of unplanned hospitalisations, number of prescribed medicines, and electronic frailty index. We characterised all three cohorts, and quantified point-prevalence and incidence rates of preventive medicines use.
resultsOverall, 90,597, 110,225 and 116,076 individuals were included in the hospitalisation, frailty, and polypharmacy cohorts respectively; 28,259 (5.9%) were in all three cohorts, while 277,332 (58.3%) were not in any (background population). Frailty and polypharmacy cohorts had the highest bi-directional overlap. Most comorbidities such as diabetes and chronic kidney disease were more common in the frailty and polypharmacy cohorts compared to the hospitalisation cohort. Generally, prevalence of preventive medicines use was highest in the polypharmacy cohort compared to the other two cohorts: For instance, one-year point-prevalence of statins was 64.2% in the polypharmacy cohort vs. 60.5% in the frailty cohort.
conclusionsThree distinct groups of older people with complex health needs were identified. Compared to the hospitalisation cohort, frailty and polypharmacy cohorts had more comorbidities and higher preventive therapies use. Research is needed into the benefit-risk of different definitions of complex health needs and use of preventive therapies in the older population.
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