A primary-care cohort associated greater continuity with fewer selected prescribing concerns, including benzodiazepines in patients at risk of falls.
The study followed records of 9,324 older people with dementia in England during one year. Several continuity measures were compared with medication patterns and adverse outcomes. Higher continuity was associated with fewer prescribed medicines and less benzodiazepine prescribing in a fall-risk category, alongside differences in some health outcomes.
Continuity was not randomly assigned. Patient complexity, consultation frequency, practice organization, and care-seeking can affect both continuity and outcomes. The study cannot establish that reducing benzodiazepines mediated the observed health associations.
For an expert assessment, examine whether clinicians had access to a coherent medication history and repeated opportunities to review it. This study supports continuity as a care-process question. It does not prove that seeing one GP would have prevented a particular fall or that every prescription from multiple clinicians was inappropriate.
Source reviewed: Continuity of GP care for patients with dementia impact on prescribing and the health of patients (PMC8803082). Forensic applications above are interpretive analysis of the supplied paper.
Related reading: Dental EEG Study Found Different Midazolam Responses in Severe Dementia; Japanese Hypnotic-Dependence Survey Linked Symptom Burden With Number of Medicines.