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Clinical Outcomes After Intensifying Antihypertensive Medication Regimens Among Older Adults at Hospital Discharge.

ABSTRACT: Importance:Transient elevations of blood pressure (BP) are common in hospitalized older adults and frequently lead practitioners to prescribe more intensive antihypertensive regimens at hospital discharge than the patients were using before hospitalization. Objective:To investigate the association between intensification of antihypertensive regimens at hospital discharge and clinical outcomes after discharge. Design, Setting, and Participants:In this retrospective cohort study, patients 65 years and older with hypertension who were hospitalized in Veterans Health Administration national health system facilities from January 1, 2011, to December 31, 2013, for common noncardiac conditions were studied. Data analysis was performed from October 1, 2018, to March 10, 2019. Exposures:Discharge with antihypertensive intensification, defined as receiving a prescription at hospital discharge for a new or higher-dose antihypertensive than was being used before hospitalization. Propensity scores were used to construct a matched-pairs cohort of patients who did and did not receive antihypertensive intensifications at hospital discharge. Main Outcomes and Measures:The primary outcomes of hospital readmission, serious adverse events, and cardiovascular events were assessed by competing risk analysis. The secondary outcome was the change in systolic BP within 1 year of hospital discharge. Results:The propensity-matched cohort included 4056 hospitalized older adults with hypertension (mean [SD] age, 77 [8] years; 3961 men [97.7%]), equally split between those who did vs did not receive antihypertensive intensifications at hospital discharge. Groups were well matched on all baseline covariates (all standardized mean differences <0.1). Within 30 days, patients receiving intensifications had a higher risk of readmission (hazard ratio [HR], 1.23; 95% CI, 1.07-1.42; number needed to harm [NNH], 27; 95% CI, 16-76) and serious adverse events (HR, 1.41; 95% CI, 1.06-1.88; NNH, 63; 95% CI, 34-370). At 1 year, no differences were found in cardiovascular events (HR, 1.18; 95% CI, 0.99-1.40) or change in systolic BP among those who did vs did not receive intensifications (mean BP, 134.7 vs 134.4; difference-in-differences estimate, 0.6 mm Hg; 95% CI, -2.4 to 3.7 mm Hg). Conclusions and Relevance:Among older adults hospitalized for noncardiac conditions, prescription of intensified antihypertensives at discharge was not associated with reduced cardiac events or improved BP control within 1 year but was associated with an increased risk of readmission and serious adverse events within 30 days.

SUBMITTER: Anderson TS

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6705136 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Clinical Outcomes After Intensifying Antihypertensive Medication Regimens Among Older Adults at Hospital Discharge.

Anderson Timothy S TS Jing Bocheng B Auerbach Andrew A Wray Charlie M CM Lee Sei S Boscardin W John WJ Fung Kathy K Ngo Sarah S Silvestrini Molly M Steinman Michael A MA

JAMA internal medicine 20191101 11

<h4>Importance</h4>Transient elevations of blood pressure (BP) are common in hospitalized older adults and frequently lead practitioners to prescribe more intensive antihypertensive regimens at hospital discharge than the patients were using before hospitalization.<h4>Objective</h4>To investigate the association between intensification of antihypertensive regimens at hospital discharge and clinical outcomes after discharge.<h4>Design, setting, and participants</h4>In this retrospective cohort st ...[more]

PMID: 31424475

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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.

Project description:BackgroundPrevious studies have shown that approximately 20% of hospital readmissions can be medication-related and 70% of these readmissions are possibly preventable. This retrospective medical records study aimed to find risk factors associated with medication-related readmissions to hospital within 30 days of discharge in older adults (≥65 years).Methods30-day readmissions (n = 360) were assessed as being either possibly or unlikely medication-related after which selected variables were used to individually compare the two groups to a comparison group (n = 360). The aim was to find individual risk factors of possibly medication-related readmissions focusing on living arrangements, polypharmacy, potentially inappropriate medication therapy, and changes made to medication regimens at initial discharge.ResultsA total of 143 of the 360 readmissions (40%) were assessed as being possibly medication-related. Charlson Comorbidity Index (OR 1.15, 95%CI 1.5-1.25), excessive polypharmacy (OR 1.74, 95%CI 1.07-2.81), having adjustments made to medication dosages at initial discharge (OR 1.63, 95%CI 1.03-2.58) and living in your own home, alone, were variables identified as risk factors of such readmissions. Living in your own home, alone, increased the odds of a possibly medication-related readmission 1.69 times compared to living in your own home with someone (p-value 0.025) and 2.22 times compared to living in a nursing home (p-value 0.037).ConclusionPossibly medication-related readmissions within 30 days of discharge, in patients 65 years and older, are common. The odds of such readmissions increase in comorbid, highly medicated patients living in their own home, alone, and if having medication dosages adjusted at initial discharge. These results indicate that care planning before discharge and the provision of help with, for example, managing medications after discharge, are factors especially important if aiming to reduce the amount of medication-related readmissions among this population. Further research is needed to confirm this hypothesis.

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Clinical Outcomes After Intensifying Antihypertensive Medication Regimens Among Older Adults at Hospital Discharge.

Publications

Clinical Outcomes After Intensifying Antihypertensive Medication Regimens Among Older Adults at Hospital Discharge.

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