Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39215549›Full record

ArticleJournal of the American Geriatrics Society2024

Associations between sex, race/ethnicity, and age and the initiation of chronic high-risk medication in US older adults.

Katharina Tabea Jungo, Niteesh K Choudhry, Alexander Chaitoff, Julie C Lauffenburger

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

6 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Trial
  2. Trial
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Katharina Tabea JungoDivision of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1782-1345
Niteesh K ChoudhryDivision of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Alexander ChaitoffDivision of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Julie C LauffenburgerDivision of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4940-4140

Funding

Division of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics, Brigham and Women's HospitalSchweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung P500PM_206728
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundHigh-risk medication use is associated with an increased risk of adverse events, but little is known about its chronic utilization by key demographic groups. We aimed to study the associations between age, sex, and race/ethnicity with new chronic use of high-risk medications in older adults.

methodsIn this retrospective cohort study, we analyzed data from older adults aged ≥65 years enrolled in a national health insurer who started a high-risk medication between 2017 and 2022 across 16 high-risk medication classes. We used generalized estimating equations to estimate the associations between sociodemographic classifications and the onset of chronic high-risk medication use after initiation (≥90 days' supply across ≥2 fills within 180 days). We adjusted the analyses for sociodemographic and clinical patient characteristics and added three-way interaction terms for race/ethnicity, sex, and age to explore whether the outcome varied across different subgroups of race/ethnicity, age, and sex.

resultsAcross 2,751,069 patients (mean age: 74 years [SD = 7], 72% White, 60% Female), 406,075 (15%) became new chronic users of ≥1 high-risk medication. Compared to White older adults, Asian (RR = 0.81, 95% CI: 0.79-0.84), Black (RR = 0.92, 95% CI: 0.90-0.94), and Hispanic (RR = 0.85, 95% CI: 0.83-0.86) older adults had a lower risk of becoming new chronic users. Men had a higher risk compared to women (RR = 1.09, 95% CI: 1.08-1.10). Age was not significantly associated with new chronic high-risk medication use (≥75 years: RR = 1.00, 95% CI: 1.00-1.01). We observed differences across some medication classes, like benzodiazepines, first-generation antihistamines, and antimuscarinics for which non-White older adults were at a higher risk. The joint presence of specific age, sex, and race/ethnicity characteristics decreased the risk of becoming a new chronic user (e.g., Hispanic/Female/65-74 years: RR = 0.96, 95% CI: 0.94-0.99).

conclusionsNew chronic high-risk medication use varied across older adults by sociodemographic characteristics, suggesting the need to individualize medication optimization approaches and better understand how systematic barriers in access to health care may influence differences in high-risk medication use in older adults.

Indexed as

EthnicityAgedAged, 80 and overAge FactorsFemaleHumansMaleRacial GroupsRetrospective StudiesSex FactorsUnited Statesagechronic medication usegenderhigh‐risk medicationsolder adultsrace/ethnicitysexsociodemographic characteristics

Identifiers

PMID39215549
PMCPMC11637294

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.