Medication exposure of the dyad patient-caregiver in Alzheimer's disease and related dementias: a cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Patients with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias and their caregivers can be defined as people with higher risk of developing medication-related problems due to aging and polypharmacy. AIM: To assess the medication exposure of patient with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias and their caregivers. METHOD: Ancillary cross-sectional study based on baseline medication data of the PHARMAID RCT. The PHARMAID study was a multi-center RCT assessing an integrated pharmaceutical care at a psychosocial program. Older outpatients with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias and their older caregivers were eligible for inclusion. Baseline medication data were used to assess the medication exposure, illustrated by the number of medications, the prevalence of potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs) using the EU(7)-PIM list and the Medication Regimen Complexity Index (MRCI). RESULTS: Seventy-three dyads were included in this ancillary study. The mean numbers (SD) of medications used by patients was 6.8 (2.6) and by caregivers was 4.7 (3.7). Overall, 60.3% of patients used at least one PIM and 47.9% of caregivers. Regarding the medication regimen complexity, the mean MRCI was 16.3(8.1) for patients and 11.3(10.5) for caregivers. CONCLUSION: The results of this study confirm the relevance of carrying out medication review with patients, but also with their caregivers who can be considered as hidden patients.

Exploring Predictive Factors for Potentially Avoidable Emergency Department Transfers: Findings From the FINE Study.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the prevalence of potentially avoidable transfers (PAT) and identify factors associated with these transfers to emergency departments (EDs) among nursing home (NH) residents. DESIGN: This is a secondary outcome analysis of the FINE study, a multicenter observational study collecting data on NH residents, NH settings, and contextual factors of ED transfers. SETTINGS AND PARTICIPANTS: NHs in the former Midi-Pyrénées region of the southwest of France (n = 312); a total of 1037 NH residents who experienced ED transfers (n = 1017) between January 2016 and December 2016. METHODS: The analysis included resident baseline characteristics and NH and transfer decision-making characteristics. An expert group categorized the transfer status as either PAT or unavoidable. Multivariable analysis using a mixed logistic model, accounting for intra-NH correlation, was conducted to assess factors independently associated with PAT. RESULTS: Among 1017 included transfers, 87.02% (n = 885) were identified as PAT and 12.98% (n = 132) unavoidable transfers. Multivariable analysis revealed that the following patient-related factors were associated with a likely high rate of PAT: usual behavior disturbances before transfer, including productive trouble (OR 2.04, 95% CI 1.25-3.33; P = .0044) and unusual symptom of falling during the week preceding the transfer (OR 4.55, 95% CI 1.76-11.82; P = .0019). On the other hand, distance between ED and NH (OR 0.98, 95% CI 0.97-0.998; P = .0231), NH staff trained in palliative care in the last 3 years (OR 0.52, 95% CI 0.29-0.95; P = .0324), the impossibility of direct hospitalization to an appropriate unit (OR 0.54, 95% CI 0.34-0.87; P = .0117), and the resident Charlson Comorbidity Index (OR 0.90, 95% CI 0.82-0.99; P = .0369) were associated with a lower probability of PAT. CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS: Transfers from NHs to hospital EDs were frequently potentially avoidable, meaning that there are still significant opportunities to reduce PAT. Our findings may help to specifically identify interventions that should be targeted at both NH and resident levels.

Exploring Population Characteristics and Recruitment Challenges in Older People Experiencing Falls at Home without Hospitalization or with an Emergency Department Visit: Insights from the RISING-DOM Experience.

Background: An increasing number of falls among community-living older adults are reported in emergency calls. Data on evidence of appropriate fall prevention interventions are limited and challenges in recruiting this population in randomized trials are acknowledged. Purpose: The main aim of this study was to provide demographic data, circumstance and fall-related outcomes of the population in the RISING-DOM study [Impact d'une évaluation des facteurs de RISque de chute et d'une prise en charge personnalisée, sur la mortalité et l'institutionnalisation, après INtervention du SAMU chez la personne âGée à DOMicile], a multicenter, randomized interventional trial involving community-dwelling older adults who have experienced a fall at home and were not hospitalized. Additionally, the challenges of remote recruitment in this population were discussed. Patients and Methods: Participants were identified through the Occitania Emergency Observatory database. Participant recruitment and data collection were performed through telephone interviews (October 2019-March 2022). Additionally, a sample survey of Emergency Medical Services calls was carried out. Results: Out of the 1151 individuals screened, a total of 951 participants were included in the trial follow-up, resulting in an acceptance rate of 82.62%. The screening delay was extended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Recruiting difficulties were mainly related to identifying potential participants, unavailable contact information and unreachability. Participants' mean age was 84.1 years, 65.8% were women, and 44.3% lived alone. Pain was the most frequent outcome (53%). In the previous year, 73.5% of participants reported experiencing a fall, with 66.7% of those falls requiring assistance from Emergency Medical Services (EMS). Nearly, 40% did not take proactive steps to prevent future falls and walking aids (79.8%) were the most common preventive action. Conclusion: Indicators of a high-risk group of falls have been identified underscoring the need for appropriate fall interventions in the target population. Challenges of large sampling for randomized fall prevention trials were provided. Trial Registration: Clinicaltrials.gov identifier: NCT04132544. Registration date: 18/10/2019. https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04132544?term=rising-dom&draw=2&rank=1.

Impact of pharmaceutical care integrated at a psychosocial intervention to reduce caregiver's burden in Alzheimer's disease or related dementias: Negative results at 18 months and difficulties to conduct PHARMAID RCT.

Background: Psychosocial interventions for caregivers of patients with Alzheimer disease and relative dementias (ADRD) reported a caregiver burden improvement. Multicomponent intervention integrating pharmaceutical care has not yet been evaluated while ADRD patients and their caregivers are exposed to high risk of drug-related problems. The PHARMAID study aimed to assess the impact of personalized pharmaceutical care integrated to a psychosocial program on the burden of ADRD caregivers at 18 months. Methods: The PHARMAID RCT was conducted between September 2016 and June 2020 [ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT02802371]. PHARMAID study planned to enroll 240 dyads, i.e. ADRD patients and caregivers, whose inclusion criteria were: outpatient with mild or major neurocognitive disorders due to ADRD, living at home, receiving support from a family caregiver. Three parallel groups compared a control group with two interventional groups: psychosocial intervention and integrated pharmaceutical care at a psychosocial intervention. The main outcome was the caregiver burden assessed by the Zarit Burden Index (ZBI, score range 0-88) at 18 months. Results: Overall, 77 dyads were included (32% of the expected sample size). At 18 months, the mean ZBI scores were 36.7 ± 16.8 in the control group, 30.3 ± 16.3 for the group with psychosocial intervention, and 28.8 ± 14.1 in group with integrated pharmaceutical care at psychosocial intervention. No significant difference was demonstrated between the three groups (p = 0.326). Conclusions: The findings suggest that PHARMAID program had no significant impact on caregiver burden at 18 months. Several limitations have been highlighted and discussed by the authors in order to formulate recommendations for further research.

Impact of a personalised care plan for the elderly calling emergency medical services after a fall at home: The RISING-DOM multi-centre randomised controlled trial protocol.

BACKGROUND: A growing number of emergency calls are made each year for elderly people who fall. Many of them are not taken to hospital or are rapidly discharged from the Emergency Department (ED). Evidence shows that, with no further support, this vulnerable population is particularly at risk of injuries, dependency and death. This study aims to determine the effectiveness of a comprehensive geriatric assessment and a tailored intervention in the elderly calling on an Emergency Medical Service (EMS) for a fall at home, but not conveyed to the ED or rapidly discharged from it (less than 24 h from hospitalisation), to the time to institutionalisation or death. METHODS: Rising-Dom is a two-arm randomised (ratio 1:1), interventional, multi-centre and open study. Community-dwelling elderly people (≥ 70 years) who call an EMS for a fall at home are recruited. The intervention group receives home visits by a nurse with a comprehensive fall risk assessment and a personalised intervention care plan with a planned follow-up (six nurse home visits and five nurse phone calls). Subjects enrolled in the usual care-control group continue to receive their routine care for the prevention or treatment of diseases. Primary (time to institutionalisation or death) and secondary (unscheduled hospitalisations, additional EMS calls relating to falls, functional decline and quality of life) outcome data will be collected for both groups through five phone calls made by Clinical Research Associates (CRA) blind to the participants' group during the follow-up period (24-months). Twelve hospital centres in the South-West of France are participating in the study as study sites. The inclusion period started in October 2019 and will end in March 2022. By the end of this period, 1,190 subjects are expected to be enrolled. DISCUSSION: Studies on elderly home falls have rarely concerned people who were not taken to hospital. The Rising-Dom intervention scheme should enhance understanding of features related to this vulnerable population and investigate the impact of a nurse care at home on delaying death and institutionalisation. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Clinicaltrials.gov identifier: NCT04132544. Registration date: 18/10/2019. SPONSOR: University Hospital, Toulouse. https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04132544?term=rising-dom&draw=2&rank=1.

[Assessment in the home of the elderly following a first fall with Samu intervention]. / Évaluation au domicile des personnes âgées dans les suites d'une première chute avec intervention du Samu.

The Rising-Dom study is a project to evaluate the impact of home intervention by an experienced geriatric nurse on mortality and institutionalization of older people who fall. It is a multicentre randomised interventional study. The two-year follow-up will compare the evolution of two groups: intervention (assessment by the nurse and proposal of a care plan) vs. usual care (simple information on ageing well and on the prevention of falls at home). First feedback from the field.

Factors Associated with Potentially Inappropriate Transfer to the Emergency Department among Nursing Home Residents.

OBJECTIVES: To determine the factors associated with the potentially inappropriate transfer of nursing home (NH) residents to emergency departments (EDs) and to compare hospitalization costs before and after transfer of individuals addressed inappropriately vs those addressed appropriately. DESIGN: Multicenter, observational, case-control study. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: 17 hospitals in France, 1037 NH residents. MEASURES: All NH residents transferred to the 17 public hospitals' EDs in southern France were systematically included for 1 week per season. An expert panel composed of family physicians, emergency physicians, geriatricians, and pharmacists defined whether the transfer was potentially inappropriate or appropriate. Residents' and NHs' characteristics and contextual factors were entered into a mixed logistic regression to determine factors associated independently with potentially inappropriate transfers. Hospital costs were collected in the national health insurance claims database for the 6 months before and after the transfer. RESULTS: A total of 1037 NH residents (mean age 87.2 ± 7.1, 68% female) were transferred to the ED; 220 (21%) transfers were considered potentially inappropriate. After adjustment, anorexia [odds ratio (OR) 2.41, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.57-3.71], high level of disability (OR 0.90, 95% CI 0.81-0.99), and inability to receive prompt medical advice (OR 1.67, 95% CI 1.20-2.32) were significantly associated with increased likelihood of potentially inappropriate transfers. The existence of an Alzheimer's disease special care unit in the NH (OR 0.66, 95% CI 0.48-0.92), NH staff trained on advance directives (OR 0.61, 95% CI 0.41-0.89), and calling the SAMU (mobile emergency medical unit) (OR 0.47, 95% CI 0.34-0.66) were significantly associated with a lower probability of potentially inappropriate transfer. Although the 6-month hospitalization costs prior to transfer were higher among potentially inappropriate transfers compared with appropriate transfers (€6694 and €4894, respectively), transfer appropriateness was not significantly associated with hospital costs. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Transfers from NHs to hospital EDs were frequently appropriate. Transfer appropriateness was conditioned by NH staff training, access to specialists' medical advice, and calling the SAMU before making transfer decisions. TRIAL REGISTRATION: clinicaltrials.gov, NCT02677272.

Impact of a Pharmacist-included Mobile Geriatrics team intervention on potentially inappropriate drug prescribing: protocol for a prospective feasibility study (PharMoG study).

INTRODUCTION: Research has shown that potentially inappropriate drug prescription (PIDP) is highly prevalent in older people. The presence of PIDPs is associated with adverse health outcomes. This study aims to evaluate the impact of a PHARmacist-included MObile Geriatrics (PharMoG) team intervention on PIDPs in older patients hospitalised in the medical, surgical and emergency departments of a university hospital. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: The PharMoG study is a prospective, interventional, single-centre feasibility study describing the impact of a PharMoG team on PIDPs in older hospitalised patients. Pharmacist intervention will be a treatment optimisation (clinical medication review) based on a combination of explicit and implicit criteria to detect PIDPs. The primary outcome is the acceptance rate of the mobile team's proposed treatment optimisations related to PIDPs, measured at the patient's discharge from the department. This pharmacist will work in cooperation with the physician of the mobile geriatric team. After the intervention of the mobile geriatric team, the proposals for improving therapy will be sent to the hospital medical team caring for the patient and to the patient's attending physician. The patient will be followed for 3 months after discharge from the hospital. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: This study was approved by the South-West and Overseas Territories II Ethics Committee. Oral consent must be obtained prior to participation, either from the patient or from the patient's representative (trusted person and/or a family member). The results will be presented at national and international conferences and published in peer-reviewed journals. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT04151797.

Potentially Inappropriate Drug Prescribing in French Nursing Home Residents: An Observational Study.

Purpose: To identify the prevalence of potentially inappropriate drug prescription in a sample of nursing home residents in France, combining explicit criteria and implicit approach and to involve pharmacists in the multi-professional process of therapeutic optimization. Methods: A cross-sectional, observational, multicenter study was conducted during a five-month period in a sample of French nursing homes. Information on drug prescription, diseases, and socio-demographic characteristics of nursing home residents was collected. For each prescription, identification of potentially inappropriate drug prescription was done, based on explicit and implicit criteria. Results: Nursing home residents were administered an average of 8.1 (SD 3.2, range 0-20) drugs per day. Nearly 87% (n = 237) of the residents had polypharmacy with five or more drugs prescribed per day. Among the 274 nursing home residents recruited from five nursing homes, 212 (77.4%) had at least one potentially inappropriate drug prescription. According to the Laroche list, 84 residents (30.7%) had at least one drug with an unfavorable benefit-harm balance. An overdosing was found for 20.1% (n = 55) of the residents. Nearly 30% (n = 82) of the residents had a drug prescribed without valid medical indication. Conclusions: This study shows that potentially inappropriate drug prescriptions are highly prevalent among nursing home residents, nevertheless pharmacists can take part in drug utilization review in collaboration with the nursing home staff.