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Exposure to High-Risk Medications is Associated With Worse Outcomes in Older Veterans With Chronic Pain.

ABSTRACT: Chronic pain is common, costly and leads to significant morbidity in older adults, yet there are limited data on medication safety. The authors sought to evaluate the association of incident high-risk medication in the elderly (HRME) with mortality, emergency department (ED) or hospital care among older adults with chronic pain.A retrospective Veterans Health Administration cohort study was conducted examining older veterans with chronic pain diagnoses and use of incident HRME (opioids, skeletal muscle relaxants, antihistamines and psychotropics). Outcomes evaluated included all-cause mortality, ED visits or inpatient hospital care. Descriptive statistics summarized variables for the overall cohort, the chronic pain cohort and those with and without HRME. Separate generalized linear mixed-effect regression models were used to examine the association of incident HRME on each outcome, controlling for potential confounders.Among 1,807,404 veterans who received Department of Veterans Affairs care in 2005 to 2006, 584,066 (32.3%) had chronic pain; 45,945 veterans with chronic pain (7.9%) had incident HRME exposure. The strongest significant associations of incident HRME were for high-risk opioids with all-cause hospitalizations (odds ratio [OR] 2.08, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.95-2.23), skeletal muscle relaxants with all-cause ED visits (OR 2.62, 95% CI 2.52-2.73) and mortality (OR 0.80, 95% CI 0.74-0.86), antihistamines with all-cause ED visits (OR 2.82 95% CI 2.72-2.95) and psychotropics with all-cause hospitalizations (OR 2.15, 95% CI 1.96-2.35).Our data indicate that incident HRME is associated with clinically important adverse outcomes in older veterans with chronic pain and highlight the importance of being judicious with prescribing certain classes of drugs in this vulnerable population.

SUBMITTER: Makris UE

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4707150 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Exposure to High-Risk Medications is Associated With Worse Outcomes in Older Veterans With Chronic Pain.

Makris Una E UE Pugh Mary Jo MJ Alvarez Carlos A CA Berlowitz Dan R DR Turner Barbara J BJ Aung KoKo K Mortensen Eric M EM

The American journal of the medical sciences 20151001 4

<h4>Background</h4>Chronic pain is common, costly and leads to significant morbidity in older adults, yet there are limited data on medication safety. The authors sought to evaluate the association of incident high-risk medication in the elderly (HRME) with mortality, emergency department (ED) or hospital care among older adults with chronic pain.<h4>Methods</h4>A retrospective Veterans Health Administration cohort study was conducted examining older veterans with chronic pain diagnoses and use ...[more]

PMID: 26418380

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Project description:Cannabis is widely used for chronic pain. However, there is some evidence of an inverse dose-response relationship between cannabis effects and pain relief that may negatively affect analgesic outcomes. In this cross-sectional survey, we examined whether daily cannabis use frequency was associated with pain severity and interference, quality of life measures relevant to pain (eg, anxiety and depressive symptoms), and cannabis use preferences (administration routes and cannabinoid ratio). Our analysis included 989 adults who used cannabis every day for chronic pain. Participant use was designated as light, moderate, and heavy (1-2, 3-4, and 5 or more cannabis uses per day, respectively). The sample was also subgrouped by self-reported medical-only use (designated MED, n = 531, 54%) versus medical use concomitant with a past-year history of recreational use (designated MEDREC, n = 458, 46%). In the whole sample, increased frequency of use was significantly associated with worse pain intensity and interference, and worse negative affect, although high-frequency users also reported improved positive affect. Subgroup analyses showed that these effects were driven by MED participants. Heavy MED participant consumption patterns showed greater preference for smoking, vaporizing, and high tetrahydrocannabinol products. In contrast, light MED participants had greater preference for tinctures and high cannabidiol products. Selection bias, our focus on chronic pain, and our cross-sectional design likely limit the generalizability of our results. Our findings suggest that lower daily cannabis use frequency is associated with better clinical profile as well as lower risk cannabis use behaviors among MED participants. Future longitudinal studies are needed to examine how high frequency of cannabis use interacts with potential therapeutic benefits. PERSPECTIVE: Our findings suggest that lower daily cannabis use frequency is associated with better clinical profile as well as safer use behaviors (eg, preference for cannabidiol and noninhalation administration routes). These trends highlight the need for developing cannabis use guidelines for clinicians to better protect patients using cannabis.

Project description:ImportanceTransient elevations of blood glucose levels are common in hospitalized older adults with diabetes and may lead clinicians to discharge patients with more intensive diabetes medications than they were using before hospitalization.ObjectiveTo investigate outcomes associated with intensification of outpatient diabetes medications at discharge.Design, setting, and participantsThis retrospective cohort study assessed patients 65 years and older with diabetes not taking insulin who were hospitalized in the Veterans Health Administration Health System between January 1, 2011, and September 28, 2016, for common medical conditions. Data analysis was performed from January 1, 2020, to March 31, 2021.ExposureDischarge with intensified diabetes medications, defined as filling a prescription at hospital discharge for a new or higher-dose medication than was being used before hospitalization. Propensity scores were used to construct a matched cohort of patients who did and did not receive diabetes medication intensifications.Main outcomes and measuresCoprimary outcomes of severe hypoglycemia and severe hyperglycemia were assessed at 30 and 365 days using competing risk regressions. Secondary outcomes included all-cause readmissions, mortality, change in hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) level, and persistent use of intensified medications at 1 year after discharge.ResultsThe propensity-matched cohort included 5296 older adults with diabetes (mean [SD] age, 73.7 [7.7] years; 5212 [98.4%] male; and 867 [16.4%] Black, 47 [0.9%] Hispanic, 4138 [78.1%] White), equally split between those who did and did not receive diabetes medication intensifications at hospital discharge. Within 30 days, patients who received medication intensifications had a higher risk of severe hypoglycemia (hazard ratio [HR], 2.17; 95% CI, 1.10-4.28), no difference in risk of severe hyperglycemia (HR, 1.00; 95% CI, 0.33-3.08), and a lower risk of death (HR, 0.55; 95% CI, 0.33-0.92). At 1 year, no differences were found in the risk of severe hypoglycemia events, severe hyperglycemia events, or death and no difference in change in HbA1c level was found among those who did vs did not receive intensifications (mean postdischarge HbA1c, 7.72% vs 7.70%; difference-in-differences, 0.02%; 95% CI, -0.12% to 0.16%). At 1 year, 48.0% (591 of 1231) of new oral diabetes medications and 38.5% (548 of 1423) of new insulin prescriptions filled at discharge were no longer being filled.Conclusions and relevanceIn this national cohort study, among older adults hospitalized for common medical conditions, discharge with intensified diabetes medications was associated with an increased short-term risk of severe hypoglycemia events but was not associated with reduced severe hyperglycemia events or improve HbA1c control. These findings indicate that short-term hospitalization may not be an effective time to intervene in long-term diabetes management.

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Exposure to High-Risk Medications is Associated With Worse Outcomes in Older Veterans With Chronic Pain.

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Exposure to High-Risk Medications is Associated With Worse Outcomes in Older Veterans With Chronic Pain.

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