Association of skeletal muscle relaxers and antihistamines on mortality, hospitalizations, and emergency department visits in elderly patients: A nationwide retrospective cohort study

Background: High-risk medication exposure in the elderly is common and associated with increased mortality, hospitalizations, and emergency department (ED) visits. Skeletal muscle relaxants and antihistamines are high-risk medications commonly prescribed in elderly patients. The objective of this study was to determine the association between skeletal muscle relaxants or antihistamines and mortality, hospitalizations, and emergency department visits. Methods: This study used a new-user, retrospective cohort design using national Veteran Affairs (VA) data from 128 hospitals. Veterans ≥65 years of age on October 1, 2005 who received VA inpatient/outpatient care at least once in each of fiscal year (FY) 2005 and FY 2006 were included. Exposure to skeletal muscle relaxants and antihistamines was defined by the National Committee for Quality Assurance Healthcare Effectiveness Data and Information Set measures for high-risk medications in the elderly. Primary outcomes identified within one year of exposure were death, ED visit, or hospitalization; ED visits or hospitalizations due to falls and fracture were also assessed. Propensity score matching (1 to 1 match) was used to balance covariates between exposed patients and non-exposed patients. Results: In this cohort of 1,807,404 patients 55,566 patients were included in the propensity-matched cohort for skeletal muscle relaxants and 60,058 patients were included in the propensity-matched cohort for anti-histamines. Mortality was lower in skeletal muscle relaxants-exposed patients (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 0.87, 95% CI 0.81-0.94), but risk of emergency care (AOR 2.25, 95% CI 2.16-2.33) and hospitalization (AOR 1.56, 95% CI 1.48-1.65) was higher for patients prescribed skeletal muscle relaxants. Similar findings were observed for emergency and hospital care for falls or fractures. Mortality (AOR 1.93, 95% CI 1.82-2.04), ED visits (AOR 2.35, 95% CI 2.27-2.43), and hospitalizations (AOR 2.21, 95% CI 2.11-2.32) were higher in the antihistamine-exposed group, with similar findings for falls and fractures outcomes. Conclusion: Skeletal muscle relaxants and antihistamines are associated with an increased risk of ED visits and hospitalizations in elderly patients. Antihistamines were also associated with an increased risk of death, further validating the classification of these drug classes as "high risk"

Impact of Drug–Drug and Drug–Disease Interactions on Gait Speed in Community-Dwelling Older Adults

BACKGROUND: Gait speed decline, an early marker of functional impairment, is a sensitive predictor of adverse health outcomes in older adults. The effect of potentially inappropriate prescribing on gait speed decline is not well known. OBJECTIVE: To determine if potentially inappropriate drug interactions impair functional status as measured by gait speed. METHODS: The sample included 2,402 older adults with medication and gait speed data from the Health, Aging and Body Composition study. The independent variable was the frequency of drug-disease and/or drug-drug interactions at baseline and three additional years. The main outcome was a clinically meaningful gait speed decline ≥ 0.1 m/s the year following drug interaction assessment. Adjusted odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals were calculated using multivariate generalized estimating equations for both the overall sample and a sample stratified by gait speed at time of drug interaction assessment. RESULTS: The prevalence of drug-disease and drug-drug interactions ranged from 7.6–9.3% and 10.5–12.3%, respectively, with few participants (3.8–5.7%) having multiple drug interactions. At least 22% of participants had a gait speed decline of ≥ 0.1 m/s annually. Drug interactions were not significantly associated with gait speed decline overall or in the stratified sample of fast walkers. There was some evidence, however, that drug interactions increased the risk of gait speed decline among those participants with slower gait speeds, though p values did not reach statistical significance (adjusted odds ratio 1.22, 95% confidence intervals 0.96–1.56, p=0.11). Moreover, a marginally significant dose-response relationship was seen with multiple drug interactions and gait speed decline (adjusted odds ratio 1.40; 95% confidence intervals 0.95–2.04, p=0.08). CONCLUSIONS: Drug interactions may increase the likelihood of gait speed decline among older adults with evidence of preexisting debility. Future studies should focus on frail elders with less physiological reserve who may be more susceptible to the harms associated with potentially inappropriate medications

Polypharmacy among older adults with dementia compared with those without dementia in the United States

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: In older persons with dementia (PWD), extensive medication use is often unnecessary, discordant with goals of care, and possibly harmful. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence and medication constituents of polypharmacy among older PWD attending outpatient visits in the US. DESIGN: Cross-sectional analysis. SETTING & PARTICIPANTS: PWD and persons without dementia (PWOD) age ≥65 years attending outpatient visits recorded in the nationally representative National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS), 2014-2016. MEASUREMENTS: PWD were identified as those with a diagnosis of dementia on the NAMCS encounter form and/or those receiving an anti-dementia medication. Visits with PWD and PWOD were compared in terms of sociodemographic, practice/physician factors, comorbidities, and prescribing outcomes. Regression analyses examined the effect of dementia diagnosis on contributions by clinically relevant medication categories to polypharmacy (defined as being prescribed ≥5 prescription and/or non-prescription medications). RESULTS: The unweighted sample involved 918 visits for PWD and 26,543 visits for PWOD, representing 29.0 and 780 million outpatient visits. PWD had a median age of 81 and on average had 2.8 comorbidities other than dementia; 63% were female. The median number of medications in PWD was 8 compared to 3 in PWOD (p<0.001). After adjustment, PWD had significantly higher odds of being prescribed ≥5 medications (AOR 3.0; 95% CI: 2.1-4.3) or ≥10 medications (AOR 2.8; 95% CI: 2.0-4.2) compared to PWOD. The largest sources of medications among PWD were cardiovascular and central nervous system medications; usage from other categories was generally elevated in PWD compared to PWOD. PWD had higher odds of receiving at least one highly sedating or anticholinergic medication (AOR 2.5; 95% CI: 1.6-3.9). CONCLUSION: In a representative sample of outpatient visits, polypharmacy was extremely common among PWD, driven by a wide array of medication categories. Addressing polypharmacy in PWD will require cross-cutting and multidisciplinary approaches