Prescribing, deprescribing and potential adverse effects of proton pump inhibitors in older patients with multimorbidity: an observational study

Carole E Aubert; Manuel R Blum; Viktoria Gastens; Olivia Dalleur; Fanny Vaillant; Emma Jennings; Drahomir Aujesky; Wade Thompson; Tijn Kool; Cornelius Kramers; Wilma Knol; Denis O'Mahony; Nicolas Rodondi

doi:10.9778/cmajo.20210240

Prescribing, deprescribing and potential adverse effects of proton pump inhibitors in older patients with multimorbidity: an observational study

CMAJ Open. 2023 Feb 28;11(1):E170-E178. doi: 10.9778/cmajo.20210240. Print 2023 Jan-Feb.

Affiliations

¹ Department of General Internal Medicine (Aubert, Blum, Aujesky, Rodondi), Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern; Institute of Primary Health Care (Aubert, Blum, Gastens, Rodondi), University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland; Clinical Pharmacy Research Group (Dalleur), Université Catholique de Louvain, Louvain Drug Research Institute; Pharmacy Department (Dalleur, Vaillant), Université Catholique de Louvain, Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc, Brussels, Belgium; Department of Medicine (Geriatrics) (Jennings, O'Mahony), Cork University Hospital, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland; Women's College Hospital Research Institute (Thompson), Toronto, Ont.; Department of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology, and Therapeutics (Thompson), Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC; Departments of Internal Medicine and Pharmacology-Toxicology (Kool, Kramers), Radboud University Medical Center, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, the Netherlands; Department of Geriatric Medicine and Expertise Centre Pharmacotherapy in Old Persons (Knol), University Medical Centre Utrecht, University of Utrecht, the Netherlands caroleelodie.aubert@insel.ch.
² Department of General Internal Medicine (Aubert, Blum, Aujesky, Rodondi), Inselspital, Bern University Hospital, University of Bern; Institute of Primary Health Care (Aubert, Blum, Gastens, Rodondi), University of Bern, Bern, Switzerland; Clinical Pharmacy Research Group (Dalleur), Université Catholique de Louvain, Louvain Drug Research Institute; Pharmacy Department (Dalleur, Vaillant), Université Catholique de Louvain, Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc, Brussels, Belgium; Department of Medicine (Geriatrics) (Jennings, O'Mahony), Cork University Hospital, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland; Women's College Hospital Research Institute (Thompson), Toronto, Ont.; Department of Anesthesiology, Pharmacology, and Therapeutics (Thompson), Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC; Departments of Internal Medicine and Pharmacology-Toxicology (Kool, Kramers), Radboud University Medical Center, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, the Netherlands; Department of Geriatric Medicine and Expertise Centre Pharmacotherapy in Old Persons (Knol), University Medical Centre Utrecht, University of Utrecht, the Netherlands.

Abstract

Background: Proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) contribute to polypharmacy and are associated with adverse effects. As prospective data on longitudinal patterns of PPI prescribing in older patients with multimorbidity are lacking, we sought to assess patterns of PPI prescribing and deprescribing, as well as the association of PPI use with hospital admissions over 1 year in this population.

Methods: We conducted a prospective, longitudinal cohort study using data from the Optimizing Therapy to Prevent Avoidable Hospital Admissions in Multimorbid Older Adults (OPERAM) trial, a randomized controlled trial testing an intervention to reduce inappropriate prescribing (2016-2018). This trial included adults aged 70 years and older with at least 3 chronic conditions and prescribed at least 5 chronic medications. We assessed prevalence of PPI use at time of hospital admission, and new prescriptions and deprescribing at discharge, and at 2 months and 1 year after discharge, by intervention group. We used a regression with competing risk for death to assess the association of PPI use with readmissions related to their potential adverse effects, and all-cause readmission.

Results: Overall, 1080 (57.4%) of 1879 patients (mean age 79 yr) had PPI prescriptions at admission, including 496 (45.9%) patients with a potentially inappropriate indication. At discharge, 133 (24.9%) of 534 patients in the intervention group and 92 (16.8%) of 546 patients in the control group who were using PPIs at admission had deprescribing. Among 680 patients who were not using PPIs at discharge, 47 (14.6%) of 321 patients in the intervention group and 40 (11.1%) of 359 patients in the control group had a PPI started within 2 months. Use of PPIs was associated with all-cause readmission (n = 770, subdistribution hazard ratio 1.31, 95% confidence interval 1.12-1.53).

Interpretation: Potentially inappropriate use of PPI, new PPI prescriptions and PPI deprescribing were frequent among older adults with multimorbidity and polypharmacy. These data suggest that persistent PPI use may be associated with clinically important adverse effects in this population.

Publication types

Randomized Controlled Trial
Observational Study
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Aged
Aged, 80 and over
Deprescriptions*
Humans
Longitudinal Studies
Multimorbidity
Prospective Studies
Proton Pump Inhibitors* / adverse effects

Substances

Proton Pump Inhibitors