Older adults using multi-dose dispensing exposed to risks of potentially inappropriate medications

Multi-dose dispensing (MDD) of medications is a health technology designed to promote medication adherence and patient safety. MDD has been used as an alternative to ordinary prescription dispensing for patients, mostly elderly with high medication use.

To evaluate the initiation phase of the MDD service to older adults ≥65 years and assess wheter the medication use of the new MDD patients is appropriate in terms of drug related problems.

The European Union EU(7)-PIM list and the Inxbase databases were used for identifying potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs) and drug-drug interactions (DDIs). The study sample consisted of a total of 208 patients aged 65-108 years who were involved in the MDD service (PharmaService Ltd.) in Finland in 2015-2016. Clinically significant differences of PIM and DDI occurrences were identified using a Pearson's chi-square test throughout the demographic groups under study.

Results demonstrate that for 81% of the study participants, at least one medication from the EU (7)-PIM list was prescribed, and up to 64% of PIMs were clinically significant. According to the Inxbase database, five patients (2.4%) were prescribed category D clinically significant DDIs. Additionally, 61% of the patients saw an increase in the number of medications prescribed within six months after the initial MDD order.

The results suggest that the MDD service should be accompanied by a regular medication review tailored to specific patient groups (i.e., older patients) to avoid potential DRPs.