Reducing prescribing cascades

African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Reducing prescribing cascades
 
Creator Tejani, Aaron M. Perry, Thomas L.
 
Subject — prescribing cascade; polypharmacy; adverse drug events; deprescribing
Description Prescribing cascades contribute to the increasing prevalence of polypharmacy and its associated risks, where a drug-induced adverse event is misinterpreted as a new condition and treated with additional medications. Notable cascades include the use of anticholinergics leading to cognitive impairment, dyspepsia or constipation, which then prompt prescriptions for dementia medications, proton pump inhibitors or laxatives, respectively. Similarly, calcium channel blockers and gabapentinoids often induce oedema, resulting in unnecessary diuretic use. Strategies for prevention include careful review of adverse effects, deprescribing where appropriate and clinician education to improve symptom interpretation and prescribing practices. Recognising these cascades can mitigate unnecessary interventions and improve patient outcomes.
 
Publisher AOSIS
 
Contributor
Date 2025-03-31
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — —
Format text/html application/epub+zip text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/phcfm.v17i1.4929
 
Source African Journal of Primary Health Care & Family Medicine; Vol 17, No 1 (2025); 4 pages 2071-2936 2071-2928
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://phcfm.org/index.php/phcfm/article/view/4929/8085 https://phcfm.org/index.php/phcfm/article/view/4929/8086 https://phcfm.org/index.php/phcfm/article/view/4929/8087 https://phcfm.org/index.php/phcfm/article/view/4929/8088
 
Coverage — — —
Rights Copyright (c) 2025 Aaron M. Tejani, Thomas L. Perry https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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