Visual Comparison of Guidelines: Method and Application to Potentially Inappropriate Medication Lists

Area of Science:

• Pharmacology
• Health Informatics
• Clinical Pharmacy

Background:

• Expert-developed therapeutic guidelines are vital for optimizing drug prescription and patient care.
• Multiple, sometimes conflicting, guidelines exist for the same patient population, complicating clinical decision-making.
• Lists of potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs) exemplify the variability and multiplicity of guidelines.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and present a visual method for comparing different PIMs lists.
• To identify divergences and similarities between various PIMs detection tools.
• To provide an overview of the landscape of PIMs guidelines.

Main Methods:

• A novel visual comparison method based on set visualization was employed.
• The method was applied to analyze and compare five distinct PIMs guidelines.
• Set theory principles were used to represent and contrast medication lists.

Main Results:

• The visual method effectively illustrated the overlaps and discrepancies among the analyzed PIMs lists.
• Specific patterns of divergence and convergence in PIM recommendations were identified.
• The study provided a clear graphical overview of guideline variations.

Conclusions:

• Visual set-based comparison is a powerful tool for understanding and navigating the heterogeneity of PIMs lists.
• This approach can aid healthcare professionals in making informed prescribing decisions by clarifying guideline differences.
• Further application of this method can support guideline harmonization and evidence-based practice.