Do Orally Disintegrating Tablets Facilitate Medical Adherence and Clinical Outcomes in Patients with Post-stroke Dysphagia?
So Sato, Yusuke Sasabuchi, Akira Okada and 1 others
PMID 39096331WHAT IT FOUND
Older post-stroke patients with swallowing rehabilitation who took orally disintegrating tablets did not have better medication adherence, fewer cardiovascular events, or fewer aspiration pneumonia admissions than those taking other tablets.
Both groups had adherence above 80%.
Key findings
01Medication adherence was high in both groups, exceeding 80%, and did not differ significantly after matching (0.889 vs. 0.902, P = 0.977).
02After matching, there were no significant differences in secondary clinical outcomes, including heart failure, atrial fibrillation, myocardial infarction, angina, stroke, composite cardiovascular events, and aspiration pneumonia.
03Subgroup analyses showed no significant differences in the primary adherence outcome; for secondary outcomes, only myocardial infarction in the antidyslipidemic drug subgroup differed.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for SLPs
Read the rest of this summary
You get three full summaries a month, free, and we do not ask for a card. Search, the TL;DRs and your library stay unlimited either way.
What it does not show
This was a retrospective claims database study, so information and selection biases may have affected the results. Matching reduced measured differences, but unmeasured confounding factors may still have affected the results. Medication adherence was inferred from prescription fills, not observed pill-taking. Only patients aged 65 or older with stroke, swallowing rehabilitation, and new prescriptions for hypertension, diabetes, or hyperlipidemia were included. Both groups already had adherence above 80%.
Declared interests
The study was funded by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare and The University of Tokyo. No conflict-of-interest declaration is provided in the supplied text.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that orally disintegrating tablets are ineffective for all patients with dysphagia. This study only compared certain chronic disease medications in Japanese patients aged 65 or older with post-stroke dysphagia, and both groups already had adherence above 80%. The study also inferred adherence from prescription claims, not observed pill-taking.