Evaluation of a Drug Interactions Software to Limit Polypharmacy

Elderly Clinical Trial

— SIMDA  

Official title:

Evaluation of a Drug Interactions Software to Limit Polypharmacy (Evaluación de un Programa de Interacciones Medicamentosas Para Limitar la Polifarmacia)

Clinical Trial Details — Status: Completed

Administrative data

• NCT number: NCT03901820
• Other study ID #: RB-001
• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Start date: March 26, 2019
• Est. completion date: November 30, 2021

Study information

• Verified date: May 2022
• Source: University of Buenos Aires
• Contact: n/a
• Is FDA regulated: No
• Study type: Interventional

Clinical Trial Summary

Multiple morbidity is increasing, especially in elderly people, with a corresponding increase in polypharmacy and inappropriate prescriptions. According to different evaluations, between 25 and 75% of patients aged 75 or older are exposed to 5 or more drugs. There is increasing evidence that polypharmacy can cause more harm than good, especially in elderly people, due to factors such as drug-drug and drug-disease interactions.

Many strategies were proposed to reduce polypharmacy and inappropriate prescribing, but there is little evidence to show benefit. There is an urgent need to implement effective strategies. The application methodology must be simple so that it does not fail in daily practice.

For the current plan, an electronic medical record, named "DrApp", will be used, which will include a drug interaction program, SIMDA, which will automatically indicate the medication prescriptions that involve a risk for the patient.

The first indication of each patient admitted to two rooms of the Internal Medicine Department of the Hospital de Clínicas José de San Martín will be registered. The indications will be compared in the 4 months prior to the incorporation of the SIMDA program with the 4 months after the incorporation of the program. Between both stages a period of 2 weeks will be established in which the data will not be recorded. The minimum number of patients that will be included in each stage is 100.

The primary end point is to compare the total number of indications per inpatient, before the availability of the SIMDA program and after the application of this program.

The objective is to evaluate if the computer program of detection of drug interactions allows to limit the polypharmacy in hospitalized patients.

Description:

Multiple morbidity is increasing, especially in elderly people, with a corresponding increase in polypharmacy and inappropriate prescriptions. According to different evaluations, between 25 and 75% of patients aged 75 or older are exposed to 5 or more drugs. There is increasing evidence that polypharmacy can cause more harm than good, especially in elderly people, due to factors such as drug-drug and drug-disease interactions.

Many strategies were proposed to reduce polypharmacy and inappropriate prescribing, but there is little evidence to show benefit. There is an urgent need to implement effective strategies. The application methodology must be simple so that it does not fail in daily practice.

For the current plan, an electronic medical record, named "DrApp", will be used, which will include a drug interaction program, SIMDA, which will automatically indicate the medication prescriptions that involve a risk for the patient.

The first indication of each patient admitted to two rooms of the Internal Medicine Department of the Hospital de Clínicas José de San Martín will be registered. The indications will be compared in the 4 months prior to the incorporation of the SIMDA program with the 4 months after the incorporation of the program. Between both stages a period of 2 weeks will be established in which the data will not be recorded. The minimum number of patients that will be included in each stage is 100.

The primary end point is to compare the total number of indications per inpatient, before the availability of the SIMDA program and after the application of this program.

The objective is to evaluate if the computer program of detection of drug interactions allows to limit the polypharmacy in hospitalized patients.

Recruitment information / eligibility

• Status: Completed
• Enrollment: 1053
• Est. completion date: November 30, 2021
• Est. primary completion date: November 30, 2021
• Accepts healthy volunteers: No
• Gender: All
• Age group: 18 Years and older

Eligibility

Inclusion Criteria:

• Patients interned in the medical clinic room of the Hospital de Clínicas José de San Martín

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Drug Interaction
• Elderly
• Inpatient
• Polypharmacy

Intervention

Device:
• Medication Interaction System of Dr App (SIMDA)
A module for the electronic clinical records allowing detection of the potential drug interactions

Locations

Country	Name	City	State
Argentina	Hospital de Clínicas José de San Martín	Ciudad Autonoma de Buenos Aire	Capital Federal

Sponsors (1)

Lead Sponsor	Collaborator
University of Buenos Aires

Country where clinical trial is conducted

Argentina, 

References & Publications (6)

Alvarez PA, Bril F, Castro V, Meiville I, Gonzalez CD, Centurion IG, Parejas G, Riera CS, Saubidet CL, Di Girolamo G, Keller GA. Adverse drug reactions as a reason for admission to an internal medicine ward in Argentina. Int J Risk Saf Med. 2013;25(3):185-92. doi: 10.3233/JRS-130596. — View Citation

Bril F, Castro V, Centurion IG, Espinosa J, Keller GA, Gonzalez CD, Riera MC, Saubidet CL, Di Girolamo G, Pujol GS, Alvarez PA. A Systematic Approach to Assess the Burden of Drug Interactions in Adult Kidney Transplant Patients. Curr Drug Saf. 2016;11(2):156-63. — View Citation

Clyne B, Bradley MC, Hughes CM, Clear D, McDonnell R, Williams D, Fahey T, Smith SM; OPTI-SCRIPT study team. Addressing potentially inappropriate prescribing in older patients: development and pilot study of an intervention in primary care (the OPTI-SCRIPT study). BMC Health Serv Res. 2013 Aug 14;13:307. doi: 10.1186/1472-6963-13-307. Review. — View Citation

Clyne B, Cooper JA, Hughes CM, Fahey T, Smith SM; OPTI-SCRIPT study team. A process evaluation of a cluster randomised trial to reduce potentially inappropriate prescribing in older people in primary care (OPTI-SCRIPT study). Trials. 2016 Aug 3;17(1):386. doi: 10.1186/s13063-016-1513-z. — View Citation

Rieckert A, Sommerauer C, Krumeich A, Sönnichsen A. Reduction of inappropriate medication in older populations by electronic decision support (the PRIMA-eDS study): a qualitative study of practical implementation in primary care. BMC Fam Pract. 2018 Jul 9;19(1):110. doi: 10.1186/s12875-018-0789-3. — View Citation

Sönnichsen A, Trampisch US, Rieckert A, Piccoliori G, Vögele A, Flamm M, Johansson T, Esmail A, Reeves D, Löffler C, Höck J, Klaassen-Mielke R, Trampisch HJ, Kunnamo I. Polypharmacy in chronic diseases-Reduction of Inappropriate Medication and Adverse drug events in older populations by electronic Decision Support (PRIMA-eDS): study protocol for a randomized controlled trial. Trials. 2016 Jan 29;17:57. doi: 10.1186/s13063-016-1177-8. — View Citation

Outcome

Type	Measure	Description	Time frame	Safety issue
Primary	Prevalence of polypharmacy cases detected in two internal medicine hospitalization units of a University Hospital	Through the electronic medical record called DrApp, the quantity of medicines prescribed to each patient is quantified and used for calculation of polypharmacy prevalence in tha basal period (pre-introduction of SIMDA) and late period (Post introduction of SIMDA).	1 year
Secondary	SIMDA associated change in the number of total prescribed drug per patient	Change in total prescribed drug per patient will be calculated as the differene between basal total prescribed drug per patient (Pre-SIMDA) minus resulting total prescribed drug per patient (Post-SIMDA)	1 year
Secondary	Number of total drug interactions per patient and subclassification by severity (in post-SIMDA period).	The addition of the application called SIMDA, will allow detecting the presence of drug interactions and their severity in the second phase. These will be reported as the total number of interactions reported per patient, and subclassificated into number of mild (no need to take action), moderate (require patient monitoring), and severe (possible contraindication) interactions detected per patient.	1 year
Secondary	difference between Number of total drug interactions per patient in the local environment with those reported in the literature at the international level	The difference will be calculated as the number of total drug interactions per patient minus the value (number of drug interaction per patient) reported in the bibliography at international level in similar populations.	1 year