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Improving the quality of medication use and medication safety is an important priority for prescribers who care for older adults. The objective of this article was to identify key articles from 2018 that address these issues. In addition, we selected four of these articles to annotate, critique, and discuss their broader implications for clinical practice. The first study highlights a cluster‐randomized trial that utilized a pharmacist‐led education‐based intervention delivered to both patients and physicians to deprescribe four types of inappropriate medications (sedative‐hypnotics, first‐generation antihistamines, selective nonsteroidal anti‐inflammatory drugs, and glyburide). The second study, a nested case‐control study using data from within the UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink, examined the association between anticholinergic exposure, overall and by anticholinergic medication class, and dementia risk in 40 770 older adults. The third study, a longitudinal cohort study of 1028 Swedish older adults, examined the association between antihypertensive medications and incident dementia. The last study was a randomized, double‐blind, placebo‐controlled trial that investigated the effect of daily low‐dose aspirin (100 mg) for primary prevention on cardiovascular events and major hemorrhage in 19 144 community‐dwelling older adults. Collectively, this current article provides insight into the pertinent topics of medication use quality and safety in older adults and helps raise awareness about optimal prescribing in older adults. J Am Geriatr Soc 67:2458–2462, 2019 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving the quality of medication use and medication safety in older adults is an important public health priority and is of paramount importance for clinicians who care for them. We selected four important articles from 2017 that address these issues to annotate and critique, and we discuss the broader implications for optimizing medication use. A longer list of articles is given in an online appendix. The first study provides national data on the prevalence of central nervous system–active medication polypharmacy in older adults and how this has changed over a 9‐year period (2004–2013). The second study characterizes prevalence of and factors associated with nonadherence to antiepileptic drugs in 36,912 older adults with epilepsy, with an emphasis on minorities. The third study describes the extent of antibiotic use in residents of 381 long‐term care facilities (LTCF) in British Columbia, Canada, from 2007 to 2014. Finally, we discuss a meta‐analysis of 42 studies that evaluated the prevalence of hospital admissions caused by adverse drug reactions in older adults. This article is intended to provide a narrative review of important publications on medication use quality and safety for clinicians and researchers committed to optimizing medication use in older adults. J Am Geriatr Soc 66:2254–2258, 2018. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Poor medication adherence is a major public health problem in older adults often resulting in negative health outcomes. Objective: The objective of this review was to provide an updated summary of evidence from randomized controlled studies to determine whether interventions aimed at improving medication adherence also improve the health outcomes of older adults residing in community-based settings. Methods: Articles that assessed medication adherence interventions and related health outcomes in elderly individuals were identified through searches of MEDLINE (1970-June 2016), the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews (through to June 2016), and Google Scholar. Across the 12 included studies, interventions were grouped into three main categories: behavioral/educational ( n = 3), pharmacist-led ( n = 7), and reminder/simplification ( n = 2). Results: Among the behavioral/educational intervention studies, two showed improvements in both adherence and related health outcomes, whereas one found no changes in adherence or health outcomes. Among the pharmacist-led studies, three showed improvements in both adherence and related health outcomes, while three reported no changes in adherence or health outcomes. One found an improvement in adherence but not health outcomes. Among the reminder/simplification studies, both studies reported improvements in adherence without a significant impact on related health outcomes. Conclusion: This evidence-based review of medication adherence interventions in older adults revealed promising strategies in the larger context of a largely mixed body of literature. Future patient-centered and multidisciplinary interventions should be developed and tested using evidence-based principles to improve medication adherence and health outcomes in older adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]