Medication Use Review Tools for Community Dwelling Older Patients:A Systematic Review

ABSTRACT

Background@#and Objective: The use of potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs) increases the risk of negative health outcomes, including drug-related admissions. Tools for structured medication review have been developed to ensure optimal medication use and safety. Here, we aimed to evaluate medication use review (MUR) tools for community-dwelling older patients. @*Methods@#We performed a systematic review of the literature according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and MetaAnalyses Statement (PRISMA). We searched PubMed, Embase, and the Cochrane Library from 1991 to 2020, excluding tools that are specifically applied to hospitalized patients or nursing home residents. We identified the most common inappropriate medications, drug-disease interactions, drug-drug interactions and prescribing omissions presented among tools. @*Results@#From among 9,788 identified reports screened, 60 met our inclusion criteria; finally, 27 were eligible for data analysis considering originality and up-to-dateness. Most tools presented explicit criteria (93%), and only one was specific to community-dwelling elderly. The most common PIM was tricyclic antidepressants. Use of diltiazem and verapamil in patients with heart failure and the combination of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory analgesics and warfarin were the most frequent disease-specific PIM and druginteraction, respectively. @*Conclusions@#Although several medication review tools have been developed for older adults, specific guidelines for community-dwelling populations remain limited. Furthermore, the list of PIMs differed among available tools. In future, specific but integrating MUR tools need to be developed for clinical practice considering this population.