TY - JOUR
T1 - Cross-national comparison of medication use in Australian and Dutch nursing homes
AU - Taxis, Katja
AU - Kochen, Sjoerd
AU - Wouters, Hans
AU - Boersma, Froukje
AU - Jan Gerard, Maring
AU - Mulder, Hans
AU - Pavlovic, Jugoslav
AU - Stevens, Gerard
AU - McLachlan, Andrew
AU - Pont, Lisa G.
N1 - © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Geriatrics Society. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.
PY - 2017/3/1
Y1 - 2017/3/1
N2 - Background: cross-national comparisons can be used to explore therapeutic areas and identify potential medication issues.Methods: we used cross-sectional pharmacy supply data to explore medication use for nursing home residents in Australia (AU n = 26 homes, 1,560 residents) and the Netherlands (NL n = 6 homes, 2,037 residents). Binary logistic regression analysis was used to calculate the sex and aged adjusted odds ratios (OR) and associated 95% confidence intervals with a flexible Bonferroni-Holm procedure used to adjust for multiple hypothesis testing.Results: total use of antipsychotics (AU: 37.7%, NL: 40.3%; OR 0.91 (0.79-1.04, P = 0.16) and antibacterials (66.8% AU, 62.4% NL, OR 1.08 (0.93-1.24, P = 0.31) was similar, but choice of individual agents differed between the two countries. Differences were observed in the use of antithrombotics (46.7% AU, 64.7% NL, OR 0.48 (0.42-0.56, P > 0.01), ophthalmologicals (44.3% AU, 22.1% NL, OR 2.80 (2.42-3.24, P < 0.001), laxatives (77.1% AU, 65.8% NL, OR 1.65 (1.41-1.92, P < 0.001).Conclusion: while the general prevalence of medication use in nursing home residents was similar across the two countries, distinct differences existed in the choice of agent among therapeutic groups. Comparing use between countries identified a number of potential medication related problem areas that need further exploration.
AB - Background: cross-national comparisons can be used to explore therapeutic areas and identify potential medication issues.Methods: we used cross-sectional pharmacy supply data to explore medication use for nursing home residents in Australia (AU n = 26 homes, 1,560 residents) and the Netherlands (NL n = 6 homes, 2,037 residents). Binary logistic regression analysis was used to calculate the sex and aged adjusted odds ratios (OR) and associated 95% confidence intervals with a flexible Bonferroni-Holm procedure used to adjust for multiple hypothesis testing.Results: total use of antipsychotics (AU: 37.7%, NL: 40.3%; OR 0.91 (0.79-1.04, P = 0.16) and antibacterials (66.8% AU, 62.4% NL, OR 1.08 (0.93-1.24, P = 0.31) was similar, but choice of individual agents differed between the two countries. Differences were observed in the use of antithrombotics (46.7% AU, 64.7% NL, OR 0.48 (0.42-0.56, P > 0.01), ophthalmologicals (44.3% AU, 22.1% NL, OR 2.80 (2.42-3.24, P < 0.001), laxatives (77.1% AU, 65.8% NL, OR 1.65 (1.41-1.92, P < 0.001).Conclusion: while the general prevalence of medication use in nursing home residents was similar across the two countries, distinct differences existed in the choice of agent among therapeutic groups. Comparing use between countries identified a number of potential medication related problem areas that need further exploration.
KW - aged
KW - nursing homes
KW - drug utilisation
KW - cross-national comparison
KW - medication
KW - older people
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85019636284&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1093/ageing/afw218
DO - 10.1093/ageing/afw218
M3 - Article
C2 - 27974305
SN - 0002-0729
VL - 46
SP - 320
EP - 323
JO - Age and Ageing
JF - Age and Ageing
IS - 2
ER -