Medications have benefits for patients. Commonly many patients are now on multiple medications.
However, all medications have side effects. The side effects of medications can lead to falls, fractures and potentially early admission into aged residential care.
It is hard for health professionals to take into the account of all the side effects of medications.
The Drug Burden Index is a tool for health professionals to help predict the impact of side effects of medications. This scale adds up the side effects of medications and presents it in a way that is easily interpretable to health professionals.
Using interRAI data this project will assess if drug burden index (DBI) predicts future adverse effects such as fractures after taking into account other comorbidities that older people may have (such as poor mobility and reduced memory).
Principal Investigators
Dr Hamish Jamieson, University of Otago, Christchurch
Funded by
National Science Challenge: Drug Burden Index