Clinical trial NCT01467050: Prevention of Adverse Drug Events (ADEs) in Hospitalised Older Patients
Official title: Prevention of Adverse Drug Events (ADEs) in Hospitalised Older Patients Using STOPP/START Criteria
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: PHASE4
Conditions: Adverse Drug Reaction
Keywords: Adverse drug event
Adverse drug reaction
Inappropriate prescribing
Elderly
Hospital-acquired
Lead sponsor: University College Cork
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2011-11-08
Enrollment: 732
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 65
Standard ages: OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: RANDOMIZED
Intervention model: PARALLEL
Primary purpose: PREVENTION

Brief summary: The next four decades will see a marked expansion of the elderly population in Ireland, in particular people aged over 80 yrs. Persons aged over 80 are the highest consumers of prescription medicines in Ireland and have the highest prevalence rates of major polypharmacy. Polypharmacy is intimately linked with serious adverse drug events (ADEs) and consequent major morbidity and mortality. Epidemiological data from the United States indicate that ADEs is the fifth most common cause of death nationally. Experts suggest that effective evidence based interventions can be applied to this major public health problem.

Recent research data indicate a cause-and-effect relationship between inappropriate prescription medicines and serious ADEs in older people in hospital. To date, Beers' criteria have been the dominant set of criteria for defining potentially inappropriate medicines (PIMs) in late life. Research data collected by this group show that the recently validated STOPP/START criteria (Screening Tool of Older Persons' Prescriptions and Screening Tool to Alert doctors to Right Treatment) identify ADEs that are causal or contributory to acute hospital admission in older people 2.7 times more frequently than Beers' criteria. Based on these findings, our hypothesis is that STOPP/START criteria have the potential to be used as a regular intervention for the purpose of ADE prevention in older people. A recent single centre randomised control trial (RCT) undertaken at Cork University Hospital showed that prospective application of STOPP/START criteria led to a highly significant improvement in medication appropriateness in older hospitalised patients compared with standard inpatient pharmaceutical care. Significantly, the improvement in medication appropriateness was maintained to the end of the study follow-up i.e. 6 months post-discharge. However, the ability of STOPP/START criteria to significantly reduce ADEs in a prospective RCT has yet to be demonstrated.


Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

All patients aged 65 years and over presenting to CUH Accident and Emergency Departments with acute illness for admission under a medical or surgical team.

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Age less than 65 years.
2. Patient to be admitted under the care of a Geriatrician Psychiatrist of Old Age or Clinical Pharmacologist, or having been admitted under these services or attended their outpatient clinics in the previous 12 months. (These doctor groups are likely to minimise inappropriate medications in this population).
3. Terminally ill patient attended by palliative care team.
4. Critically ill patient e.g. admitted to Intensive Care Unit.
5. Patients who do not wish to participate in the study.
6. Patients whose hospital physician does not wish to participate in the study.

Primary outcomes:
measure: Number of patients with probable and definite adverse drug events in hospital
timeFrame: Up to Day 14 of hospital admission
Secondary outcomes:
measure: drug ingredient cost at hospital discharge
timeFrame: Up to day 14
measure: Composite health resource utilization including hospital readmissions and primary care consultations
timeFrame: At 3 months post discharge from hospital
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Cork
country: Ireland
facility: Cork University Hospital
state: Munster
Study officials:
affiliation: University College Cork, Ireland
name: Denis O'Mahony, MD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: Gallagher PF, O'Connor MN, O'Mahony D. Prevention of potentially inappropriate prescribing for elderly patients: a randomized controlled trial using STOPP/START criteria. Clin Pharmacol Ther. 2011 Jun;89(6):845-54. doi: 10.1038/clpt.2011.44. Epub 2011 Apr 20.
citation: O'Mahony D, Gallagher PF. Inappropriate prescribing in the older population: need for new criteria. Age Ageing. 2008 Mar;37(2):138-41. doi: 10.1093/ageing/afm189.
citation: Hamilton H, Gallagher P, Ryan C, Byrne S, O'Mahony D. Potentially inappropriate medications defined by STOPP criteria and the risk of adverse drug events in older hospitalized patients. Arch Intern Med. 2011 Jun 13;171(11):1013-9. doi: 10.1001/archinternmed.2011.215.
citation: Gallagher P, Ryan C, Byrne S, Kennedy J, O'Mahony D. STOPP (Screening Tool of Older Person's Prescriptions) and START (Screening Tool to Alert doctors to Right Treatment). Consensus validation. Int J Clin Pharmacol Ther. 2008 Feb;46(2):72-83. doi: 10.5414/cpp46072.
citation: O'Brien GL, O'Mahony D, Gillespie P, Mulcahy M, Walshe V, O'Connor MN, O'Sullivan D, Gallagher J, Byrne S. Cost-Effectiveness Analysis of a Physician-Implemented Medication Screening Tool in Older Hospitalised Patients in Ireland. Drugs Aging. 2018 Aug;35(8):751-762. doi: 10.1007/s40266-018-0564-0.