Table 3 Variation between the 41 nursing homes in drug use and drug-related problems and the differences between the quartile of nursing homes using highest and lowest number of drugs
From: Variation between nursing homes in drug use and in drug-related problems
Variables | All NHs (n = 41) Mean (range) | Differences between the NHs using highest (n = 10) and lowest (n = 10) number of drugs | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mean Q4 | Mean Q1 | Diff (95%CI)a | P-value | ||
Drug use | |||||
Drugs/patient | 6.8 (4.8–9.3) | 7.7 | 5.7 | 2.0 (1.6, 2.6) | < 0.001 |
Proportion of patients using: | |||||
≥ 9 drugs | 34.2 (15.9–52.2) | 44.2 | 22.0 | 22.2 (18.5, 25.9) | < 0.001 |
Opioids | 33.1 (0.0–65.2) | 42.1 | 22.0 | 20.1 (8.7, 31.4) | 0.002 |
Paracetamol | 43.5 (15.8–73.9) | 44.7 | 34.0 | 10.6 (−1.5, 22.7) | 0.08 |
Antipsychotics | 19.1 (3.0–50.0) | 20.3 | 20.9 | - 0.6 (−12.3, 11.0) | 0.9 |
Benzodiazepines | 52.8 (23.7–98.6) | 57.8 | 45.7 | 12.1 (−4.9, 29.1) | 0.2 |
Antidepressants | 37.8 (9.1–75.0) | 38.2 | 35.3 | 2.8 (−10.2, 15.9) | 0.6 |
Antidementia drugs | 11.4 (0.0–41.7) | 10.7 | 12.0 | - 1.3 (−10.6, 8.1) | 0.8 |
Drug-related problems (DRPs) | |||||
Proportion of patients with DRPs | 84.1 (31.8–100.0) | 85.2 | 86.2 | - 1.0 (−14.9, 12.8) | 1.0 |
DRPs/patient | 2.0 (0.5–3.4) | 2.2 | 1.8 | 0.4 (−0.3, 1.0) | 0.2 |
Categories of DRPs: | |||||
- Unnecessary drug | 0.6 (0.1–1.3) | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.0 (−0.2, 0.3) | 1.0 |
- Excessive dosage | 0.3 (0.1–0.6) | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.0 (−0.1, 0.2) | 0.2 |
- Monitor use required | 0.3 (0.0–0.7) | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.0 (−0.1, 0.2) | 0.9 |
- Need for new drug | 0.2 (0.0–0.4) | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.1 (−0.01, 0.1) | 0.1 |
- Drug-drug interaction | 0.2 (0.0–0.5) | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.1 (0.01, 0.2) | 0.03 |
- Adverse drug reaction | 0.1 (0.0–0.4) | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.1 (− 0.04, 0.2) | 0.2 |
- Inappropriate drug | 0.1 (0.1–0.5) | 0.1 | 0.2 | - 0.1 (−0.1, 0.1) | 0.9 |
Demographics | |||||
Mean age, years | 85.9 (61.3–90.0) | 84.6 | 84.5 | 0.1 (−6.4, 6.7) | 1.0 |
Proportion of males | 25.8 (13.6–47.4) | 27.5 | 24.5 | 3.0 (−6.0, 12.0) | 0.5 |