Who benefits from reducing medication? Big data innovation in the Long-Term Care

Reducing medication use in elderly nursing home residents is a challenge. Care guidelines are sometimes contradictory, and there is a lack of knowledge about the effect of discontinuing commonly used medications. Research on medication discontinuation in nursing home residents is extremely rare. It is very difficult to conduct and often results in (too) small sample sizes to draw definitive conclusions. Furthermore, outcomes important to elderly people and their families, such as well-being and daily functioning, are not always considered. In this project, we are using large existing routine care data from three countries to gain insight into the effects of medication reduction on quality of life, daily functioning, and adverse effects in nursing home residents. We are using innovative artificial intelligence techniques to estimate the effects of medication reduction on both groups and individuals. This new knowledge can be used to improve care guidelines.