Prevalence of potentially inappropriately prescribed medications among older adults receiving peritoneal dialysis

The prevalence of exposure to supratherapeutic doses or contraindicated medications based on renal dosing criteria, also known as potentially inappropriately prescribed medications (PIPM), is currently unknown among patients on peritoneal dialysis (PD). The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of PIPM in the first year of PD among Medicare patients in the United States.

This was a retrospective longitudinal cohort analysis of patients starting PD in 2018 in the United States Renal Data System database. Inclusion criteria were patients >65 years of age, continuously enrolled in Medicare Part D for 12 months, and prescribed ≥1 medication(s) at the start of dialysis. Prevalence of exposure to PIPM was determined at the start of dialysis and quarterly over 1 year. Logistic regression evaluated which patient characteristics (age, sex, race, Hispanic ethnicity, rurality, social deprivation index (SDI), United States region, polypharmacy, and diagnosis of diabetes and hypertension) were associated with exposure to ≥1 PIPM at the start of PD.

There were 3760 patients included, and 28% were exposed to PIPM at the start of dialysis, and 21.8% were still exposed by the end of the first year. Patients with ≥4 versus <4 medications were at 2.8-14.1 times the odds of being exposed to PIPM (<0.001). Other key characteristics associated with exposure to PIPM were age ≥85 versus <75 years (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 0.67, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.48-0.95 p = 0.03), living in the South versus the Northeast (aOR 1.30 95% CI 1.02-1.66, p = 0.04), and diagnosis of diabetes (aOR 1.52, 95% CI 1.29-1.78, p < 0.001).

This study found that approximately 20%-30% of patients receiving PD were exposed to PIPM from 2018 to 2019. Results from this study support the need to create medication management programs to decrease exposure to PIPM.