Table 3.
Descriptions of studies and interventions
| Author, year | Country | Study design | Number of patients (mean age ± SD) | Patients' condition | Access to clinical notes* | Setting | Type of medication review | Primary outcome | Results# | Secondary outcome | Results# | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Intervention | Control | |||||||||||
| Park et al. 1996 [20] | USA | RCT | 27 (57.3) | 25 (63) | Hypertension | No | Pharmacy | CMR | Blood pressure goal | NM | Compliance QoL | I > C I > C‡ |
| Munroe et al. 1997 [21] | USA | Prospective cohort | 188 (67.2 ± 12.6) | 401 (63.3 ± 15.8) | Hypertension, diabetes, asthma, hypercholesterolaemia | Unclear | Pharmacy | CMR | – | – | Economics | I > C‡ |
| Begley et al. 1997 [22] | UK | RCT | 61 (84) | 66 (82) | Discharge from hospital, elderly | No | Patient's home | AR | – | – | Compliance | I > C |
| Carter et al. 1997 [23] | USA | RCT | 25 (67.3) | 26 (68.5) | Hypertension | Yes | Pharmacy, patient's home | CMR | Blood pressure goal | I = C | Economics QoL | C > I NM |
| Anonymous 2000 [24] | USA | Prospective cohort | NM | NM | Asthma, hypertension, diabetes, ischaemic heart disease | Unclear | Pharmacy | CMR | – | – | Economics | NM |
| Cordina et al. 2001 [25] | UK | RCT (Cluster) | 64 (41.3 ± 18.4) | 55 (45.9 ± 18.1) | Asthma | Yes | Pharmacy | CMR | Self reported symptoms¤ Hospitalization | I > C I > C | ComplianceQoL | I = C I > C‡ |
| Herborg et al. 2001 [26] | Denmark | Prospective cohort | 209 (38.8 ± 12.3) | 204 (42.4 ± 11.6) | Asthma | Unclear | Pharmacy | CMR | Hospitalization | I = C | QoL | I > C |
| Herborg et al. 2001 [27] | Denmark | Prospective cohort | 167 (38.8 ± 12.3) | 137 (42.4 ± 11.6) | Asthma | Unclear | Pharmacy | CMR | – | – | Compliance | I > C |
| Schulz et al. 2001 [28] | Germany | Prospective cohort | 101 (46.3 ± 11.4) | 63 (45.9 ± 12.5) | Asthma | Unclear | Pharmacy | AR | Asthma severity§ | I = C | QoL | I > C‡ |
| Finley et al. 2002 [29] | USA | Prospective cohort | 61 (59.9 ± 15.9) | 129 (61.1 ± 16.2) | Depression | No | GP clinic (Health centre), phone call | CMR with prescribing | – | – | Compliance | I > C |
| Fischer et al. 2002 [30] | USA | Prospective cohort | 231 (57) | 444 (58) | Heart and lung disease | Unclear | Pharmacy (community and health centre) | Unclear (between AR and CMR) | Mortality | I > C | Economics | I = C |
| Taylor et al. 2003 [31] | USA | RCT | 25 (64.4 ± 13.7) | 32 (66.7 ± 12.3) | Hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia, on warfarin | Yes | GP clinic | CMR | BP goal¤ LDL goal Hospitalization | I > C I > C I > C | Compliance QoL | I = C I = C |
| Sturgess et al. 2003 [32] | UK | RCT (Cluster) | 75 (73.1 ± 5.0) | 35 (74.2 ± 6.3) | Elderly | No | Pharmacy, patient's home | CMR | Hospitalization | I = C | Compliance QoL | I > C C > I‡ |
| Sellors et al. 2003 [33] | Canada | RCT (Cluster) | 379 (74 ± 6.1) | 409 (74 ± 6.0) | Elderly | Yes | GP clinic | CMR | Hospitalization | NM | Economics QoL | I = C I = C |
| Chabot et al. 2003 [34] | Canada | Prospective cohort | 35 (NM) | 56 (NM) | Hypertension | No | Pharmacy | CMR | BP goal (high income) | I > C‡ | Compliance (high income) | I > C‡ |
| Bouvy et al. 2003 [35] | Netherland | RCT | 48 (69.1 ± 10.2) | 43 (70 ± 11.2) | Heart failure on loop diuretics | No | Pharmacy | AR | Hospitalization(((heart failure)¤ Mortality | I = C I = C | Compliance QoL (generic) | I > C C > I‡ |
| Chrischilles et al. 2004 [36] | USA | Prospective cohort | 524 (54.1 ± 0.8) | 1687 (48.4 ± 0.5) | Polypharmacy | Unclear | Pharmacy | CMR | – | – | Economics | I = C |
| Krass et al. 2005 [37] | Australia | Prospective cohort | 106 (64 ± 9) | 82 (65 ± 10) | Type II diabetes | Unclear | Pharmacy | CMR | – | – | Compliance | I > C‡ |
| Paulos et al. 2005 [38] | Chile | RCT | 23 (64 ± 10) | 19 (66 ± 11) | Dyslipidaemia | Unclear | Pharmacy | CMR | Total cholesterol† | NM | QoL | NM |
| Shane-McWhorter et al. 2005 [39] | USA | Prospective cohort | 151 (69.1 ± 13.8) | 176 (54 ± 12.8) | Diabetes | Yes | GP clinic (Health centre) | CMR | Systolic blood pressure goal¤ LDL goal | I = C NM | – | – |
| Vrijens et al. 2006 [40] | Belgium | RCT | 194 (61.9 ± 19) | 198 (60.4 ± 10.2) | On atorvastatin | Yes | Pharmacy | AR | – | – | Compliance | I > C |
| Holland et al. 2007 [16] | UK | RCT | 136 (77.6 ± 9.0) | 144 (76.4 ± 9.5) | Heart failure | Yes | Patient's home | AR | HospitalizationMortality | I = C I = C | Compliance QoL | I = C I = C |
| Christensen et al. 2007 [41] | USA | Prospective before and after | 67 (67.7 ± 11.4) | 870 (66 ± 12.1) | Polypharmacy | Unclear | Pharmacy (community and health centre) | CMR | – | – | Economics | NM |
| Scott et al. 2007 [42] | UK | RCT | 883 (68.7 ± 9.2) | 472 (68.8 ± 9.1) | Coronary heart disease | Yes | Pharmacy | CMR | – | – | Economics | I > C‡ |
| Armour et al. 2007 [43] | Australia | RCT (Cluster) | 165 (47.5 ± 17.1) | 186 (50.4 ± 16.1) | Asthma | Unclear | Pharmacy and patient's home | CMR | Asthma severity | I > C | Compliance QoL | I > C I > C |
| Lenaghan et al. 2007 [44] | UK | RCT | 68 (84.5) | 66 (84.1) | Elderly | Yes | Patient's home | AR | Hospitalization Mortality | ¤ I = C I = C | QoL | I = C |
| Team 2007 [45] | UK | RCT | 883 (68.7 ± 9.2) | 472 (68.8 ± 9.1) | Coronary heart disease | Yes | Pharmacy | CMR | – | – | Compliance QoL | I = C I = C |
| Saini et al. 2008 [46] | Australia | Prospective cohort | 46 (50.8 ± 15.3) | 37 (50.4 ± 18.4) | Asthma | Unclear | Pharmacy and patient's home | CMR | Asthma severity† | I > C | Compliance QoL | I > C I = C |
| Mehuys et al. 2008 [47] | Belgium | RCT | 80 (36.3) | 70 (35.2) | Asthma | Unclear | Pharmacy | AR | Asthma control | I = C | Compliance QoL | I > C‡ I = C |
| Issets et al. 2008 [15] | USA | Prospective cohort | 285 (NM) | 126 (NM) | Had health claim on chronic disease | Unclear | GP clinic | CMR | Blood pressure goal¤ LDL goal | I > C I > C | – | – |
| Planas et al. 2009 [48] | USA | RCT | 25 (64.2 ± 10.5) | 15 (65.2 ± 14.1) | Diabetes with hypertension | Unclear | Pharmacy | CMR | Blood pressure goal | I > C | Compliance | I = C |
| Hugtenberg et al. 2009 [49] | Netherland | Prospective cohort | 336 (69.7 ± 15.0) | 379 (72.7 ± 11.2) | Discharge from hospital | No | Pharmacy, patient's home, phone call | AR | Mortality | I = C | – | – |
| Hirsch et al. 2009 [50] | USA | Prospective cohort | 1353 (46) | 5665 (46.7) | HIV/AIDS | No | Pharmacy | CMR | Opportunistic infection | I = C | Compliance Economics | I > C C > I |
| Roughead et al. 2009 [51] | Australia | Retrospective cohort | 273 (81.6 ± 4.8) | 5444 (81.6 ± 4.8) | Heart failure, elderly | Yes | Patient's home | CMR | Hospitalization | I > C | – | – |
| Hohmann et al. 2009 [52] | Germany | Prospective cohort | 73 (68.2 ± 9.7) | 157 (68.1 ± 10.8) | Transient ischaemic attack, ischaemic stroke | No | Pharmacy | Unclear (between AR and CMR) | – | – | QoL | I > C‡ |
| Villeneuve et al. 2010 [53] | Canada | RCT (Cluster) | 101 (59.3 ± 9.6) | 110 (62.2 ± 12.0) | On statin with inadequate control | Yes | Pharmacy | CMR with prescribing | LDL target | I = C | Compliance | I = C |
*
Include summary/ discharge notes from doctors,
#
Results based on significant finding reported in individual study, QoL = Quality of Life.
†
=Not included in meta-analysis, =include in combined primary outcome meta-analysis. I > C = intervention is significantly better than control, I = C = no significant difference between intervention and control, NM = significant value for comparison between groups was not mentioned clearly/conducted or information was not available, C > I = control is significantly better than intervention.
‡
Significant in certain domains/outcomes. AR, Adherence review; CMR Clinical medication review.