Prescribing at 95 years of age: cross-sectional findings from the Newcastle 85+ study

BACKGROUND: Previous research has examined prescribing amongst 85-year-olds in English primary care, but less is known about prescribing amongst 95-year-olds in spite of population ageing. AIM: We describe the most commonly prescribed medicines in a cohort of 95-year-olds, using 10-year follow-up data from the Newcastle 85+ Study (n = 90). METHOD: A total of 1040 participants were recruited to the Newcastle 85+ Study through general practices at 85-years of age, and 90 surviving participants were re-contacted and assessed at 95-years of age. Prescribed medications from general practice medical records were examined through cross-tabulations and classified as preventative or for symptom control based on their customary usage. RESULTS: Preventative medications with unclear evidence of benefit such as statins (36.7%), aspirin (21.1%) and bisphosphonates (18.9%) were frequently prescribed. CONCLUSION: Future research in a larger clinical dataset could investigate this preliminary trend, which suggests that benefit/risk information for preventive medication, and evidence for deprescribing, is needed in the very old. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11096-022-01454-z.