Prescription of high-risk medications among patients with chronic kidney disease: a cross-sectional study from the Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho region Practice and Research Network.

Background: Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) are at high risk for adverse drug events related to medication dosing errors and prescriptions for relatively contraindicated medications, such as non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs).

Objectives: To examine the scope of and variation in prescribing relatively contraindicated medications and medications above the recommended dose levels among patients with stage III/IV CKD in primary care practice.

Methods: This is a cross-sectional descriptive study that used structured electronic health record data. The study participants were patients aged 18 years and older from three primary care clinics in a practice-based research network. Number/proportion of adult patients with stage III/IV CKD; proportion of these patients with at least one NSAID or other relatively contraindicated medication prescribed over 2 years.

Results: Of the 7586 eligible adult patients, 4.9% had stage III/IV CKD; 46.6% of these 373 patients with stage III/IV CKD were prescribed at least one relatively contraindicated drug (acarbose, chlorpropamide, glyburide, nitrofurantoin or any NSAID) during the 2-year study period; and 34.0% of patients with stage III/IV CKD were prescribed NSAIDs.

Conclusions: Primary care patients with stage III/IV CKD were frequently prescribed or had documented use of relatively contraindicated drugs and thus were at risk of adverse drug events. Given the significant number of individuals with CKD in the USA, research that examines rates of adverse events related to these prescriptions and that tests primary care-based interventions to decrease inappropriate prescribing of relatively contraindicated medications to these patients is needed.