Table 3. Subgroup analysis of included studies.
| Study Characteristics | Subgroup analysis | Meta Regression | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studies (n) | Pooled estimate (%) (95% CI) | I2 (%) | Mean Difference | P-Value | |
| Age groups | |||||
| Paediatric | 2 | 1.01 (0.29, 1.73) | 71.8 | refa | ref |
| Adults (excl. elderly) | 12 | 13.60 (10.79, 16.42) | 99.7 | 14.56 (-6.60, 35.80) | 0.170 |
| Elderly | 10 | 28.43 (18.65, 38.21) | 99.2 | 27.71 (5.86, 49.56) | 0.015 |
| All age groups | 9 | 4.53 (4.04, 5.03) | 99.6 | 5.16 (-16.63, 26.95) | 0.632 |
| Setting | |||||
| General practice | 10 | 5.57 (4.95, 6.19) | 99.8 | 4.96 (-10.19, 20.11) | 0.508 |
| General internal medicine | 7 | 19.33 (10.83, 27.84) | 98.6 | 18.29 (-0.60, 37.18) | 0.057 |
| Community pharmacy | 5 | 6.93 (4.10, 9.75) | 98.3 | 6.19 (-13.45, 25.84) | 0.523 |
| Home setting | 4 | 23.34 (17.60, 29.08) | 89.6 | 23.55 (3.01, 44.07) | 0.026 |
| Long-term care facilitiesb | 4 | 42.22 (17.57, 66.88) | 98.9 | 39.75 (21.94, 57.55) | 0.000 |
| Paediatric practice | 2 | 1.01 (0.29, 1.73) | 71.8 | Ref | ref |
| Multidisciplinary | 1 | - | - | - | - |
| Methods | |||||
| Medical record/notes/medication review and patient survey | 16 | 19.92 (16.11, 23.73) | 99.1 | 23.69 (6.49, 40.88) | 0.009 |
| Medical record review | 3 | 14.90 (0.29, 29.50) | 98.3 | 13.81 (0.66, 26.96) | 0.040 |
| Trigger-based medical record review | 3 | 14.32 (3.80, 24.84) | 97.9 | 10.69 (-7.94, 29.33) | 0.249 |
| Spontaneous/solicited reporting | 5 | 4.74 (0.66, 8.82) | 98.3 | 1.06 (-14.99, 17.11) | 0.893 |
| Administrative database screening | 5 | 3.19 (2.53, 3.85) | 99.9 | Ref | ref |
| Combined | 1 | - | - | - | - |
| Definitions | |||||
| WHO | 9 | 3.38 (2.81, 3.96) | 99.5 | Ref | ref |
| Bates et al | 6 | 13.05 (9.37, 16.73) | 98.3 | -9.92 (-26.98, 7.15) | 0.245 |
| NA/Otherc | 18 | 11.42 (9.23, 13.60) | 99.7 | -10.86 (-24.10, 2.37) | 0.104 |
| Study Quality | |||||
| Low risk of bias | 12 | 20.37 (16.89, 23.85) | 99.5 | 9.47 (-2.09, 21.02) | 0.105 |
| High risk of bias | 21 | 6.40 (5.89, 6.91) | 99.6 | Ref | ref |
| Sample Size | |||||
| ≤1000 | 19 | 22.49 (18.58, 26.39) | 99.3 | 20.57 (6.35, 34.79) | 0.006 |
| 1001–10,000 | 9 | 7.67 (4.85, 10.50) | 99.2 | 5.11 (-10.25, 20.47) | 0.502 |
| >10,000 | 5 | 2.96 (2.28, 3.64) | 99.9 | Ref | ref |
aReference value
bInclude one studies combining nursing home and home nursing care
cInclude three studies that used definition by Parry et al and Britt et al, the remaining studies did not specify the definition used.