Deprescribing benefits for aged care residents re-enforced – again

The clinical outcomes of deprescribing interventions among residents in nursing homes are not well understood and has recently been evaluated in a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials in an aged care setting including people 60 years of age or older, and assessing falls, all-cause mortality, admission to hospital and the use of potentially inappropriate medicines. 41 randomized clinical studies involving 18,408 resident were included. Deprescribing significantly reduced the number of residents with potentially inappropriate medications by 59% (odds ratio [OR] 0.41, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.19–0.89). In subgroup analysis, medication review–directed deprescribing interventions reduced all-cause mortality by 26% (OR 0.74, 95% CI 0.65–0.84), as well as falls by 24% (OR 0.76, 95% CI 0.62–0.93).This research provides further evidence for the effectiveness of medication review strategies to reduce the likelihood as adverse outcomes amongst older people living in nursing homes. Read the details here