The outcomes of considering goals of care in medication reviews for older adults: a systematic review.

Introduction: This is a systematic review of prescribing, clinical, patient-reported, and health utilization outcomes of goal-directed medication reviews in older adults.

Methods: A systematic review was conducted using MEDLINE, EMBASE, SCOPUS and CINAHL databases to identify studies examining outcomes of goal-directed medication reviews in humans, with mean/median age ≥ 60 years and in English.

Results: Seventeen out of 743 articles identified were included. Whilst there were inconsistent findings regarding changes in the number of medications between groups or post-intervention in one group ( = 6 studies), studies found reductions in drug-related problems ( = 2) and potential to reduce anticholinergics and sedatives ( = 2). Two out of seven studies investigating clinical outcomes found improvements, such as reduced hospital readmissions and improved depression severity. One study found 75% of patients achieved ≥ 1 goals and another found 43% of goals were achieved at six months. Four out of five studies found significant improvements in patient-reported quality of life between groups ( = 2) or post-intervention in one group ( = 2). Both studies investigating cost-effectiveness reported the intervention was cost-effective.

Conclusions: There is evidence of positive impact on medication rationalization, quality of life and cost-effectiveness, supporting goal-directed medication reviews. Larger, longitudinal studies, exploring patient-focused outcomes may provide further insights into the ongoing impact of goal-directed medication reviews.