Appendix 2.
Ongoing and excluded articles reviewed and reasons for exclusion.
| Study number | Article | Reason for exclusion |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Developing pharmacist-led research to educate and sensitive community residents to the inappropriate prescription burden in the elderly. Source: ClinicalTrials.gov |
This study is currently ongoing. Study start date: March 2014. Estimated study completion date: September 2016. |
| 2. | Inappropriate prescription in elderly and polypharmacy patients in primary care. PHARM-PC Trial. Source: ClinicalTrials.gov |
This study is not yet open for participant recruitment. Study start date: October 2014. Estimated study completion date: April 2016. |
| 3. | A pilot study to reduce inappropriate anticholinergic prescribing in the elderly. Source: ClinicalTrials.gov |
This study is currently recruiting participants. Study start date: September 2014. Estimated study completion date: December 2015. |
| 4. | Educational intervention to reduce drug-related hospitalizations in elderly primary health care patients. Source: ClinicalTrials.gov |
Emailed author for full paper: 12 December 2014, 10:50 a.m. No reply. Emailed author again on 13 January 2015, 11:35 a.m. No reply. |
| 5. | Minimizing risk and maximizing outcomes in geriatric patients through integrated clinical pharmacy services in an innovative model of community practice. Source: ClinicalTrials.gov |
The recruitment status of this study is unknown because the information has not been verified recently. Observational study. |
| 6. | Study of whether educational visits to primary care professionals improves the quality of care they provide. Source: ClinicalTrials.gov |
Not relevant. The intervention was evaluated using prescribing analysis and cost (PACT) data for antidepressant drugs. |
| 7. | An intervention study to reduce the use and impact of potentially inappropriate medications among older adults. Source: ClinicalTrials.gov |
Emailed author for full paper: 12 December 2014, 11:55 a.m. Author replied on 12 December 2014, 5 p.m. with the following statement: ‘Unfortunately our trial did not involve a pharmacist intervention so would not be relevant for your review’. |
| 8. | Pharmacist-led medicines management outpatient service Source: ClinicalTrials.gov |
Emailed author for full paper: 12 December 2014, 12:05 p.m. Author replied on 5 January 2015 with the following comment: ‘The Medicines Management Outpatient Service research is currently in progress therefore, unfortunately it is not possible to share details at this stage’. |
| 9. | Rationalisation of polypharmacy in the elderly by the RASP instrument Source: ClinicalTrials.gov |
Emailed author for full paper: 12 December 2014, 12:24 p.m. Author replied on 13 January 2015 with following comment: ‘I am afraid that our manuscript concerning the RASP study in hospital setting is still in the makings. We are currently finishing it as we speak. Afterwards we will normally finish a short proof-of-concept study, which was performed in primary care’. |
| 10. | Randomized controlled trial of enhanced pharmacy care in older veteran outpatients Source: ClinicalTrials.gov |
Emailed author for full paper: 12 December 2014, 12:30 p.m. No response. Emailed author again on 13 January 2015 at 11:50 a.m. No response. |
| 11. | Preventing falls through enhanced pharmaceutical care Source: ClinicalTrials.gov |
Full article obtained. The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of a community pharmacy–based falls prevention programme. |
| 12. | Lipton H, Bero L, Bird JA, et al. The impact of clinical pharmacists’ consultations on physicians’ geriatric drug prescribing. A randomized controlled trial. Med Care 1992; 30(7): 646–658. | Full article obtained. Intervention in secondary care. Not a validated tool in 1992. |
| 13. | Elderly people still given inappropriate drugs. Pharmaceut J 2006; 276(7384): 62. | Report from the Pharmaceutical Journal. |
| 14. | Vinks T, Egberts T, De Lange T, et al. Pharmacist-based medication review reduces potential drug-related problems in the elderly: the SMOG controlled trial. Drugs Aging 2009; 26(2): 123–133. | Full article obtained. No screening tool used. Medication review used. Drug-related problems were identified and validated by reference to national prescribing guidelines such as the practice standards of Dutch general practitioners (GPs) as well as therapeutic handbooks. |
| 15. | Allard J, Hebert R, Rioux M, et al. Efficacy of a clinical medication review on the number of potentially inappropriate prescriptions prescribed for community-dwelling elderly people. CMAJ 2001; 164(9): 1291–1296. | Full article obtained. Potentially inappropriate prescriptions (PIPs) were identified from a list of PIPs developed by the Quebec Committee on Drug Use in the Elderly. Although generated by a panel of experts, this list has never been validated with empirical data. |
| 16. | The Community Pharmacy Medicines Management Project Evaluation Team. The MEDMAN study: a randomized controlled trial of community pharmacy-led medicines management for patients with coronary heart disease. Fam Pract 2007; 24: 189–200. | Full article obtained. No screening tool used. |
| 17. | Castelino RL, Hilmer SN, Bajorek BV, et al. Drug Burden Index and potentially inappropriate medications in community-dwelling older people: the impact of Home Medicines Review. Drugs Aging 2010; 27(2): 135–148. | From abstract: A retrospective analysis of medication reviews. No control group. Full article not required. |
| 18. | Cowper PA, Weinberger M, Hanlon JT, et al. The cost-effectiveness of a clinical pharmacist intervention among elderly outpatients. Pharmacotherapy 1998; 18(2): 327–332. | Full article obtained. Cost analysis of a previously reported randomised controlled trial. (A randomised controlled trial of a clinical pharmacist intervention to improve inappropriate prescribing in elderly outpatients with polypharmacy. Hanlon et al. 1996. This paper was included in our final review.) |
| 19. | Davis RG, Hepfinger CA, Sauer KA, et al. Retrospective evaluation of medication appropriateness and clinical pharmacist drug therapy recommendations for home-based primary care veterans. Am J Geriatr Pharmacother 2007; 5(1): 40–47. | Full article obtained: Hard copy only. Retrospective analysis. No control group. |
| 20. | Denneboom W, Dautzenberg MG, Grol R, et al. Treatment reviews of older people on polypharmacy in primary care: cluster controlled trial comparing two approaches. Br J Gen Pract 2007; 57(542): 723–731. | Full article obtained. Treatment review only. No screening tool used. |
| 21. | Faya S. Pharmaceutical care for elderly patients in community pharmacy: analysis and evaluation of community pharmacist interventions in the Randomised Evaluation of Shared Prescribing for Elderly People in the Community over Time (RESPECT) Study. Bradford: University of Bradford, 2009. | Paper produced as part of PhD thesis. Thesis obtained. |
| 22. | Fletcher J, Hogg W, Farrell B, et al. Effect of nurse practitioner and pharmacist counselling on inappropriate medication use in family practice. Can Fam Physician 2012; 58(8): 862–868. | Full article obtained. This study had no control group. |
| 23. | Goodyear-Smith F. Appropriate medications: prescription and use in primary care. J Prim Health Care 2013; 5(3): 178–179. | Full article obtained. Not relevant: Editorial review. |
| 24. | Grymonpre RE, Williamson DA and Montgomery PR. Impact of a pharmaceutical care model for non-institutionalised elderly: results of a randomised, controlled trial. Int J Pharm Pract 2001; 9: 235–241. | Full article obtained. Not related to inappropriate prescribing. |
| 25. | Howard R, Rodgers S, Avery AJ, et al. Description and process evaluation of pharmacists’ interventions in a pharmacist-led information technology-enabled multicentre cluster randomised controlled trial for reducing medication errors in general practice (PINCER trial). Int J Pharm Pract 2014; 22(1): 59–68. | Full article obtained. Pharmacist’s recommendations to manage individual cases of hazardous medicines management. No screening tool used. |
| 26. | Kaufman MB, Brodin KA and Sarafian A. Effect of prescriber education on the use of medications contraindicated in older adults in a managed Medicare population. J Manag Care Pharm 2005; 11(3): 211–219. | Full article obtained. This was a before and after study. No control group. |
| 27. | Krska J, Cromarty JA, Arris F, et al. Pharmacist-led medication review in patients over 65: a randomized, controlled trial in primary care. Age Ageing 2001; 30(3): 205–211. | Full article obtained. The study identified pharmaceutical care issues using medication reviews, however, no screening tool used. |
| 28. | Kwint HF, Faber A and Bouvy ML. The effect of home medication review on the resolution of drug related problems and health-related quality of life. Int J Clin Pharm 2013; 35(5): 896. | Article obtained. Poster presented at 41st European Society of Clinical Pharmacy symposium on clinical pharmacy: Barcelona, Spain. 29–31 October 2012. |
| 29. | Kwint HF, Faber A, Gussekloo J, et al. Effects of medication review on drug-related problems in patients using automated drug-dispensing systems: a pragmatic randomized controlled study. Drugs Aging 2011; 28(4): 305–314. | Full article obtained. Medication review. Implicit and explicit criteria used. Explicit criteria consisted of a list of clinical rules based on Dutch treatment and prescription guidelines. Implicit criteria for identifying Drug-related problems were based on a structural assessment by Cipolle according to a rational order of indication, effectiveness, safety and compliance. |
| 30. | Lipton HL, Bird JA, Bero LA, et al. Assessing the appropriateness of physician prescribing for geriatric outpatients: development and testing of an instrument. J Pharm Technol 1993; 9(3): 107–113. | Full article obtained: Hard copy only. This study was carried out in secondary care. It involved the development and testing of an instrument for drug therapy prescribing problems for geriatric patients. |
| 31. | Lund BC, Carnahan RM, Egge JA, et al. Inappropriate prescribing predicts adverse drug events in older adults. Ann Pharmacother 2010; 44(6): 957–963. | Full article obtained. Study utilised data from a previous study. (The Veterans Affairs Enhanced Pharmacy Outpatient Clinic (EPOC) study: a randomised controlled pharmacist–physician intervention trial: Kaboli et al. 2004.) Objective: To determine whether an implicit measure of inappropriate prescribing can predict ADE risk. MAI score not segregated between control and intervention group. |
| 32. | Martin P, Tamblyn R, Ahmed S, et al. An educational intervention to reduce the use of potentially inappropriate medications among older adults (EMPOWER study): protocol for a cluster randomized trial. Trials 2013; 14: 80. | Full article obtained. Educational intervention. Outcome: Cessation of benzodiazepines in the 6 months following receipt of the intervention. No screening tool used. |
| 33. | Milos V, Rekman E, Bondesson A, et al. Improving the quality of pharmacotherapy in elderly primary care patients through medication reviews: a randomised controlled study. Drugs Aging 2013; 30(4): 235–246. | Full article obtained. The majority of the patients in this study were living in nursing homes. The goal of medication reviews has been improved patient safety and quality of medication use, according to the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare’s indicators for good drug therapy in the elderly. |
| 34. | Mino-Leon D, Reyes-Morales H, Jasso L, et al. Physicians and pharmacists: collaboration to improve the quality of prescriptions in primary care in Mexico. Int J Clin Pharm 2012; 34(3): 475–480. | Full article obtained. Aim: To reduce prescription errors for patients with diabetes and/or hypertension. No screening tool used. |
| 35. | Morley JE. Inappropriate drug prescribing and polypharmacy are major causes of poor outcomes in long-term care. J Am Med Dir Assoc 2014; 15(11): 780–782. | Not relevant. Study carried out in long-term care, for example, nursing homes. |
| 36. | Morrison A and Wertheimer AI. Evaluation of studies investigating the effectiveness of pharmacists’ clinical services (Structured abstract). Am J Health Syst Pharm 58(7): 569–577. | Not relevant: systematic review. |
| 37. | Reboredo-Garcia S, Mateo CG and Casal-Llorente C. Implantation of a program for polymedicated patients within the framework of the Galician Strategy for Integrated Chronic Care. Aten Primaria 2014; 46(Suppl. 3): 33–40. | Full article obtained. Published in Spanish. (A native Spanish speaker was recruited to translate the article into English, Dec 2014.) No control study. |
| 38. | Rossi MI, Young A, Maher R, et al. Polypharmacy and health beliefs in older outpatients. Am J Geriatr Pharmacother 2007; 5(4): 317–323. | Abstract only. This study contained no control group. |
| 39. | Schmader KE, Hanlon JT, Pieper CF, et al. Effects of geriatric evaluation and management on adverse drug reactions and suboptimal prescribing in the frail elderly. Am J Med 2004; 116(6): 394–401. | Full article obtained. Analysed same patients as inpatient and outpatients. |
| 40. | Sellors J, Kaczorowski J, Sellors C, et al. A randomized controlled trial of a pharmacist consultation program for family physicians and their elderly patients (structured abstract). CMAJ 2003; 169(1): 17–22. | Full article obtained. The intervention focused on drug-related problems. The primary end-point measure was a reduction in the daily units of medication taken, as a surrogate for optimised drug therapy. |
| 41. | Shade MY, Berger AM and Chaperon C. Potentially inappropriate medications in community-dwelling older adults. Res Gerontol Nurs 7(4): 178–192. | Full article obtained. This is a systematic review. |
| 42. | Teichert M, Luijben SN, Wereldsma A, et al. Implementation of medication reviews in community pharmacies and their effect on potentially inappropriate drug use in elderly patients. Int J Clin Pharm 2013; 35(5): 719–726. | Full article obtained. Specifically developed algorithms were used to identify nine potentially inappropriate medicines (PIMs) from the HARM study. |
| 43. | Wong I, Campion P, Coulton S, et al. Pharmaceutical care for elderly patients shared between community pharmacists and general practitioners: a randomised evaluation. RESPECT (Randomised Evaluation of Shared Prescribing for Elderly people in the Community over Time. BMC Health Serv Res 2004; 4(1): 11. | Full article obtained. This paper describes a proposed randomised multiple interrupted time series trial design. |
| 44. | Zermansky AG, Petty DR, Raynor DK, et al. Clinical medication review by a pharmacist of patients on repeat prescriptions in general practice: a randomised controlled trial. Health Technol Assess 2002; 6(20): 1–86. | Full article obtained. Primary outcome: the number of repeat medication changes per patient over a 12-month period. Secondary outcome was the effect on the medication costs. |
| 45. | Basger BJ, Moles RJ and Chen TF. Impact of an enhanced pharmacy discharge service on prescribing appropriateness criteria: a randomised controlled trial. Int J Clin Pharm 2015; 37: 1194–1205. | Full article obtained. This study was performed in a small private hospital. (Not a primary care study.) |
| 46. | Rose O, Waltering I, John C, et al. The WestGem study; medication management in the elderly. Int J Clin Pharm 2015; 37(2): 405–406. | Abstract only obtained. The WestGem-Study is still going on. Results will be published by the end of 2015. |
| 47. | Verdoorn S, Kwint HF, Faber A, et al. Majority of drug-related problems identified during medication review are not associated with STOPP/START criteria. Eur J Clin Pharmacol 2015; 71(10): 1255–1262. | Full article obtained. This study has no control group. |
| 48. | Bregnhøj L, Thirstrup S, Kristensen MB, et al. Combined intervention programme reduces inappropriate prescribing in elderly patients exposed to polypharmacy in primary care. Eur J Clin Pharmacol 2009; 65: 199–207. | Full article obtained. This was not a pharmacist-led study. The pharmacist analysed the patients’ prescription and medical history and proposed changes in their medication. The pharmacist and clinical pharmacologist discussed these recommendations; however, it was the responsibility of the clinical pharmacologist what was finally recommended. The pharmacist forwarded the feedback to the physicians. The clinical pharmacologists contacted the physicians by telephone to discuss any uncertainties concerning the recommendations given. The clinical pharmacologists delivered the interactive educational interventions. |
| 49. | Monane M, Matthias D, Nagle B, et al. Improving prescribing patterns for the elderly through an online drug utilization review intervention: a system linking the physician, pharmacist, and computer. JAMA 1998; 280(14): 1249–1252. *Handsearched |
Full article obtained. This study has no control group. |
| 50. | Fick DM, Maclean JR, Rodriguez NA, et al. A randomized study to decrease the use of potentially inappropriate medicines among community dwelling older adults in a south-eastern managed care organisation. Am J Manag Care 2004; 10(11 Pt 1): 761–768. *Handsearched |
Full article obtained. Pharmacists suggested a list of potentially inappropriate medicine alternative medicines and performed a peer review of the drugs to be included in the intervention and their corresponding alternative medications. Not a pharmacist-led intervention. |
| 51. | Bucci C, Jackevicius C, McFarlane K, et al. Pharmacist’s contribution in a heart function clinic: patient perception and medication appropriateness. Can J Cardiol 2003; 19(4): 391–396. *Handsearched |
Full article obtained. This pharmacist intervention was carried out at the heart function clinic at Toronto General Hospital. Interventions carried out in secondary care were not included in the review. |
| 52. | Meredith S, Feldman P, Frey D, et al. Improving medication use in newly admitted home healthcare patients: a randomized controlled trial. J Am Geriatr Soc 2002; 50: 1484–1491. *Handsearched |
Full article obtained. There was no validated screening tool used in this study and potentially inappropriate prescribing was not measured as an outcome. |
| 53. | Avorn J and Soumerai SB. Improving drug-therapy decisions through educational outreach. A randomized controlled trial of academically based ‘detailing’. N Engl J Med 1983; 308(24): 1457–1463. *Handsearched |
Full article obtained. The three target drugs were selected on the basis of an analysis of national prescribing practices, for example, Medicaid prescribing records and evidence from published controlled clinical trials. There was no screening tool used in the intervention, and the target population was not specifically aimed at those aged over 65 years. |