Orthogeriatric Treatment Reduces Potential Inappropriate Medication in Older Trauma Patients: a Retrospective, Dual-center Study Comparing Conventional Trauma Care and Co-managed Treatment

Background: Multimorbidity and polypharmacy are common challenges in the treatment of older trauma patients. Therefore, various integrated care models were developed over the last few years, merging the expertise of geriatricians and trauma surgeons. The aim of this study was to evaluate, if the number of prescriptions of potentially inappropriate medication (PIM) could be reduced in these patients by an interdisciplinary co-managed concept compared to conventional trauma care.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective, dual-center cohort study, including all patients aged 70 years and older admitted with a fracture of the hip or the proximal humerus within the study period. Patients were treated in the universities department of trauma surgery with two different hospital sites, one with conventional trauma care (CTC) and the other one with a certified orthogeriatric trauma unit (OGC). Based on the STOPP/START criteria by O´Mahony et al., PIMs were defined, which should be avoided in (ortho)geriatric patients. Medical records of each patient were analyzed at discharge. Besides patients basic information, all prescribed drugs, changes in the medication plan and who carried out these changes were collected. For statistical analysis based on the data quality and distribution, the t test, Mann-Whitney U test and the Chi-square test were used.

Results: A total of 95 patients were included, 73 of them females, with an average age of 82.59 years (SD ± 6.96). Mean length of hospital stay was 12.98 at CTC and 13.36 days at OGC (p = 0.536). Among conventional care (41 patients), prescription of one or more PIMs was found in 85.4% of the patients, whereas at the orthogeriatric ward (54 patients) only in 22.2% (p < 0.001). Besides that, changes in medication were made for 48.1% of the patients during their stay on the orthogeriatric ward.

Conclusions: Our findings show that an integrated care concept can reduce the number of prescriptions of PIMs significantly and potentially avoids adverse drug reactions and additional burdens in older trauma patients.