ReviewPharmacy (Basel, Switzerland)2025
Pharmacist-Led Interventions for Polypharmacy Management in Older Adults: A Systematic Review of Strategies and Outcomes in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland.
Review in Pharmacy (Basel, Switzerland), 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled 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.
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.
Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Prevalence of potentially inappropriate medications in people living with HIV: a systematic review and meta-analysis.BMC infectious diseases · 2025Pooled it
- Factors related to community pharmacists' intention to provide collaborative deprescribing service for fall-risk medications in older adults: a factorial and theory-based cross-sectional study.International journal of clinical pharmacy · 2026Article
- Anticholinergic burden interacts with age and AIDS history to amplify frailty in people with HIV.British journal of clinical pharmacology · 2026Article
- Health Literacy Impairment and Awareness of Clinical Pharmacist Services Among Geriatric Tertiary-Care Outpatients: A Cross-Sectional Study.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Prescription Support Practice for Pharmacy Students: Pre-Post Educational Intervention Study.JMIR medical education · 2026Article
- Impact of Traditional Korean Medicine on Reducing Polypharmacy and Potentially Inappropriate Medications in Elderly Stroke Patients: A Retrospective Cohort Study.Journal of multidisciplinary healthcare · 2026Article
- Greening the curriculum: challenges in bringing environmental sustainability to pharmaceutical education.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Polypharmacy in older adults increases risks of adverse drug reactions (ADRs), hospitalisations, and mortality. Pharmacist-led interventions using validated tools (e.g., STOPP/START, MAI, STOPPFrail) aim to optimise prescribing, yet their impact on clinical and economic outcomes in UK/Ireland health systems remains underexplored. This systematic review aimed to critically assess the impact of pharmacist-led deprescribing interventions on PIP, clinical outcomes, and costs in older adults (≥65 years) across the UK and Ireland. Following PRISMA 2020 guidelines, four databases (PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Cochrane Library) were searched for studies (2010-2024). Eligible studies included randomised trials, observational designs, and intervention studies in hospitals, care homes, community pharmacies, and intermediate care settings. Fourteen studies met the inclusion criteria. The risk of bias was assessed using CASP checklists. Narrative syntheses and heat maps summarised the findings. Twelve of fourteen studies reported positive outcomes: reductions in potentially inappropriate medications, ADRs, medication burdens, and falls/fall risks. Medication appropriateness improved significantly in 35% of studies using the MAI. STOPPFrail reduced PIMs in care homes, while the MAI enhanced complex hospital reviews. Community interventions improved adherence and reduced the use of fall risk drugs. No studies demonstrated a reduction in hospitalisations, mortality, or the length of stays. Economic analyses showed mixed cost-effectiveness. Key barriers included low uptake of pharmacist recommendations and short follow-up periods. Pharmacist-led interventions have significantly improved the prescribing quality and reduced medication-related risks, but they fail to impact hospitalisations or mortality due to implementation gaps. Context-specific tools and policy reforms-including expanded pharmacist roles and electronic decision support-are critical for sustainability. Future research should focus on long-term outcomes, cost-effectiveness, and multidisciplinary integration.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
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.