Background: Few studies describe how gender-related factors may contribute to polypharmacy and prescribing cascades. Describing these patterns using cross-national comparisons can improve the robustness of findings and provide lessons on the importance of considering age, sex, and gender in pharmacological research. The aim of the study was to explore the intersection of age, sex, and gender with polypharmacy and co-prescribing suggesting a potential prescribing cascade.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Despite growing awareness of sex differences in inappropriate prescribing among older adults, including the initiation of problematic prescribing cascades, the impact of gender bias remains largely unexplored.
Objectives: We explored how a patient's sex and gender-related sociocultural factors influence physicians' prescribing decisions, potentially leading to prescribing cascades in older adults. A secondary objective was to explore whether and how physician sex affected prescribing decisions for female and male patients.
Background: Active transportation (AT), described as self-powered modes of travel (eg, walking and cycling), is an important source of health-promoting physical activity. While AT behaviors have been measured on national health surveys in Canada for over 2 decades, historic prevalence has not been previously reported. We aimed to document the measures of AT on Canada's various national health surveys, examine AT over time, and interpret them within the context of evolving methods of assessment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: A prescribing cascade occurs when a drug is prescribed to manage the often unrecognised side effect of another drug; these cascades are of particular concern for older adults who are at heightened risk for drug-related harm. It is unknown whether, and to what extent, gender bias influences physician decision-making in the context of prescribing cascades. The aim of this transnational study is to explore the potential impact of physician implicit gender biases on prescribing decisions that may lead to the initiation of prescribing cascades in older men and women in two countries, namely: Canada and Italy.
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