Multimorbidity and polypharmacy among elderly people followed in general practices in Germany

Impacts of medication adherence and home healthcare on the associations between polypharmacy and the risk of severe hypoglycemia among elderly diabetic patients in Taiwan from 2002 to 2012: A nationwide case-crossover study

AIM

To assess how medication adherence and home healthcare support influence the role of polypharmacy in induced hypoglycemia events among elderly diabetic patients.

METHODS

This case-crossover study retrieved records on diabetic patients >=65 years with severe hypoglycemia from 2002 to 2012 in Taiwan. Case period defined as 1-3 days before severe hypoglycemia was compared with a preceding control period of the same length, with an all-washout period of 30 days. Moreover, the modifiable effects of medication adherence and home healthcare service use were evaluated by stratified analysis.

RESULTS

Totally 2,237 patients were identified. Polypharmacy use was associated with the risk of severe hypoglycemia. Patients receiving polypharmacy without home healthcare services (aOR: 1.34; 95 % CI: 1.16-1.54) and those with poor adherence to anti-diabetic medications (aOR: 1.48; 95 % CI: 1.24-1.77) were significantly associated with an elevated risk of severe hypoglycemia. In patients with good adherence, non-home healthcare users being prescribed with polypharmacy had a higher risk of severe hypoglycemia. In the group that received home healthcare services, patients with poor adherence using polypharmacy had a higher risk of severe hypoglycemia.

CONCLUSIONS

Good adherence and receiving home healthcare services were associated with a decreased odds of severe hypoglycemic events in elderly diabetic patients, regardless of the fact whether they were prescribed with polypharmacy.

Association between polypharmacy and chronic kidney disease among community-dwelling older people: a longitudinal study in southern China

BACKGROUND

Polypharmacy would increase the risk of adverse drug events and the burden of renal drug excretion among older people. Nevertheless, the association between the number of medication and the risk of chronic kidney disease (CKD) remains controversial. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the association between the number of medication and the incidence of CKD in older people.

METHODS

This study investigates the association between the number of medications and CKD in 2672 elderly people (≥ 65 years older) of the community health service center in southern China between 2019 and 2022. Logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate the relationship between polypharmacy and CKD.

RESULTS

At baseline, the average age of the study subjects was 71.86 ± 4.60, 61.2% were females, and 53 (2.0%) suffer from polypharmacy. During an average follow-up of 3 years, new-onset CKD developed in 413 (15.5%) participants. Logistic regression analysis revealed that taking a higher number of medications was associated with increase of CKD. Compared with people who didn't take medication, a higher risk of CKD was observed in the older people who taken more than five medications (OR 3.731, 95% CI 1.988, 7.003), followed by those who take four (OR 1.621, 95% CI 1.041, 2.525), three (OR 1.696, 95% CI 1.178, 2.441), two drugs (OR 1.585, 95% CI 1.167, 2.153), or one drug (OR 1.503, 95% CI 1.097, 2.053). Furthermore, age, systolic blood pressure (SBP), white blood cell (WBC), blood urea nitrogen (BUN) and triglyceride (TG) were also independent risk factors CKD (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

The number of medications was associated with CKD in older people. As the number of medications taken increased, the risk of CKD was increased.

Number of medically prescribed pharmaceutical agents as predictor of mortality risk: a longitudinal, time-variable analysis in the EPIC-Heidelberg cohort

The number of prescribed medications might be used as proxy indicator for general health status, in models to predict mortality risk. To estimate the time-varying association between active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) count and all-cause mortality, we analyzed data from a population cohort in Heidelberg (Germany), including 25,546 participants with information on medication use collected at 3-yearly intervals from baseline recruitment (1994-1998) until end of 2014. A total of 4548 deaths were recorded until May 2019. Time-dependent modeling was used to estimate hazard ratios (HR) and their 95% confidence intervals (CI) for all-cause mortality in relation to number of APIs used, within three strata of age (≤ 60, > 60 to  ≤ 70 and > 70 years) and adjusting for lifestyle-related risk factors. For participants reporting commonly used APIs only (i.e., API types accounting for up to 80% of medication time in the population) total API counts showed no association with mortality risk within any age stratum. However, when at least one of the APIs was less common, the total API count showed a strong relationship with all-cause mortality especially up to age ≤ 60, with HR up to 3.70 (95% CI 2.30-5.94) with 5 or 6 medications and 8.19 (5.61-11.97) for 7 or more APIs (versus none). Between > 60 and 70 years of age this risk association was weaker, with HR up to 3.96 (3.14-4.98) for 7 or more APIs, and above 70 years it was weakened further (HR up to 1.54 (1.34-1.79)). Multiple API-use may predict mortality risk in middle-aged and women and men ≤ 70 years, but only if it includes at least one less frequently used API type. With advancing age, and multiple medication becomes increasingly prevalent, the association of API count with risk of death progressively attenuates, suggesting an increasing complexity with age of underlying mortality determinants.

Clinical assessment and management of patients with multimorbidity

Internal medicine specialists, also known as general internal medicine specialists are specialist physicians trained to manage particularly complex or multisystem disease conditions that single-organ-disease specialists may not be trained to deal with. The management of multimorbidity, however, is often complex, and requires specific clinical skills and corresponding experience in appropriate diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. Multimorbidity is associated with a decline in many aspects of health and in consequence with an increase in hospital admissions, polypharmacy, and use of health care and social resouces. When prescribing medicine to patients with multimorbidity, all the risks and benefits, as well as possible interactions should be carefully considered. The prescription appropriateness can be assessed by validated tools like STOPP-START criteria. Beneficial part of good prescribing is deprescribing - planned and supervised process of dose reduction or withdrawal of medications that are no longer needed in the circumstances of the patient.

Fifteen-year trajectories of multimorbidity and polypharmacy in Dutch primary care—A longitudinal analysis of age and sex patterns

Objective

After stratifying for age, sex and multimorbidity at baseline, our aim is to analyse time trends in incident multimorbidity and polypharmacy in the 15-year clinical trajectories of individual patients in a family medicine setting.

Methods

This study was carried out using data from the Registration Network Family Medicine in the South of the Netherlands. The clinical trajectories of 10037 subjects during the 15-year period (2000–2014) were analyzed in a repeated measurement of using a generalized estimating equations model as well as a multilevel random intercept model with repeated measurements to determine patterns of incident multimorbidity and polypharmacy. Hierarchical age-period-cohort models were used to generate age and cohort trajectories for comparison with prevalence trends in multimorbidity literature.

Results

Multimorbidity was more common in females than in males throughout the duration of the 15-year trajectory (females: 39.6%; males: 33.5%). With respective ratios of 11.7 and 5.9 between the end and the beginning of the 15-year period, the youngest female and male groups showed a substantial increase in multimorbidity prevalence. Ratios in the oldest female and male groups were 2.2 and 1.9 respectively. Females had higher levels of multimorbidity than males in the 0-24-year and 25-44-year age groups, but the levels converged to a prevalence of 92.2% in the oldest male and 90.7% in the oldest female group. Similar, albeit, moderate differences were found in polypharmacy patterns.

Conclusions

We sought to specify the progression of multimorbidity from an early age. As a result, our study adds to the multimorbidity literature by specifying changes in chronic disease accumulation with relation to polypharmacy, and by tracking differences in patient trajectories according to age and sex. Multimorbidity and polypharmacy are common and their prevalence is accelerating, with a relatively rapid increase in younger groups. From the point of view of family medicine, this underlines the need for a longitudinal approach and a life course perspective in patient care.

Age- and Sex-Specific Differences in Multimorbidity Patterns and Temporal Trends on Assessing Hospital Discharge Records in Southwest China: Network-Based Study

Background

Multimorbidity represents a global health challenge, which requires a more global understanding of multimorbidity patterns and trends. However, the majority of studies completed to date have often relied on self-reported conditions, and a simultaneous assessment of the entire spectrum of chronic disease co-occurrence, especially in developing regions, has not yet been performed.

Objective

We attempted to provide a multidimensional approach to understand the full spectrum of chronic disease co-occurrence among general inpatients in southwest China, in order to investigate multimorbidity patterns and temporal trends, and assess their age and sex differences.

Methods

We conducted a retrospective cohort analysis based on 8.8 million hospital discharge records of about 5.0 million individuals of all ages from 2015 to 2019 in a megacity in southwest China. We examined all chronic diagnoses using the ICD-10 (International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision) codes at 3 digits and focused on chronic diseases with ≥1% prevalence for each of the age and sex strata, which resulted in a total of 149 and 145 chronic diseases in males and females, respectively. We constructed multimorbidity networks in the general population based on sex and age, and used the cosine index to measure the co-occurrence of chronic diseases. Then, we divided the networks into communities and assessed their temporal trends.

Results

The results showed complex interactions among chronic diseases, with more intensive connections among males and inpatients ≥40 years old. A total of 9 chronic diseases were simultaneously classified as central diseases, hubs, and bursts in the multimorbidity networks. Among them, 5 diseases were common to both males and females, including hypertension, chronic ischemic heart disease, cerebral infarction, other cerebrovascular diseases, and atherosclerosis. The earliest leaps (degree leaps ≥6) appeared at a disorder of glycoprotein metabolism that happened at 25-29 years in males, about 15 years earlier than in females. The number of chronic diseases in the community increased over time, but the new entrants did not replace the root of the community.

Conclusions

Our multimorbidity network analysis identified specific differences in the co-occurrence of chronic diagnoses by sex and age, which could help in the design of clinical interventions for inpatient multimorbidity.

High Prevalence of Multimorbidity and Polypharmacy in Elderly Patients With Chronic Pain Receiving Home Care are Associated With Multiple Medication-Related Problems

Aim: To measure the extent of polypharmacy, multimorbidity and potential medication-related problems in elderly patients with chronic pain receiving home care. Methods: Data of 355 patients aged ≥65 years affected by chronic pain in home care who were enrolled in the ACHE study in Berlin, Germany, were analyzed. History of chronic diseases, diagnoses, medications including self-medication were collected for all patients. Multimorbidity was defined as the presence of ≥2 chronic conditions and levels were classified by the Charlson-Comorbidity-Index. Polypharmacy was defined as the concomitant intake of ≥5 medications. Potentially clinically relevant drug interactions were identified and evaluated; underuse of potentially useful medications as well as overprescription were also assessed. Results: More than half of the patients (55.4%) had moderate to severe comorbidity levels. The median number of prescribed drugs was 9 (range 0-25) and polypharmacy was detected in 89.5% of the patients. Almost half of them (49.3%) were affected by excessive polypharmacy (≥10 prescribed drugs). Polypharmacy and excessive polypharmacy occurred at all levels of comorbidity. We detected 184 potentially relevant drug interactions in 120/353 (34.0%) patients and rated 57 (31.0%) of them as severe. Underprescription of oral anticoagulants was detected in 32.3% of patients with atrial fibrillation whereas potential overprescription of loop diuretics was observed in 15.5% of patients. Conclusion: Multimorbidity and polypharmacy are highly prevalent in elderly outpatients with chronic pain receiving home care. Medication-related problems that could impair safety of drug treatment in this population are resulting from potentially relevant drug interactions, overprescribing as well as underuse.

Laying the foundation for a Core Set of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health for community-dwelling older adults in primary care: relevant categories of their functioning from the research perspective, a scoping review

OBJECTIVES

The objective of this study was to find relevant concepts of functioning in community-dwelling older adults within frequently used assessment instruments published in the scientific literature. This was part of a larger project to develop an International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) Core Set for use in primary care.

DESIGN

A scoping review was conducted. Articles dealing with functioning in older adults were searched and assessed for eligibility. The study population included community-dwelling adults (≥75 years) without dementia, living in high-resource countries. Relevant concepts were extracted from assessment instruments and linked to the ICF using standardised linking rules. Finally, a frequency analysis was conducted.

SETTING

Home, primary care.

PARTICIPANTS

Community-dwelling adults aged 75 years and above.

RESULTS

From 5060 identified publications, 68 were included and 30 assessment instruments extracted. Overall, 1182 concepts were retrieved. Most were linked to the 'activities and participation' component. The most frequently identified categories were 'memory functions', 'dressing' and 'changing basic body position'.

CONCLUSIONS

This review provides a list of relevant ICF categories from the research perspective that will be used for developing an ICF Core Set for older primary care patients.

TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBERS

PROSPERO (CRD42017067784), Versorgungsforschung Deutschland Datenbank (VfD_17_003833) and ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT03384732).

Polypharmacy, potentially inappropriate medication and pharmacogenomics drug exposure in the Rhineland Study

AIM

High medication use may contribute to the efficiency of drug therapy in general, but it could also increase the burden of adverse drug reactions. We aimed to assess medication use and the prevalence of three risk factors for adverse drug reactions: the use of polypharmacy, potentially inappropriate medication in the elderly and pharmacogenomic polymorphisms affecting the metabolism of drugs.

METHODS

Cross-sectional interview-based medication data (including over-the-counter drugs) was collected in a large population-based cohort (≥30 years of age) in Bonn, Germany.

RESULTS

Analyses were based on the first 5000 participants of the Rhineland Study (mean age 55 years, 57% women). Of our participants, 66.0% reported the use of a drug regularly, which increased to 87.4% in participants aged ≥65 years (n = 1301). The rates of use of polypharmacy, potentially inappropriate medication and pharmacogenomic drugs were 15.9%, 6.4% and 20.5%, respectively. In participants <65 years, 16.0% (95% CI 14.8, 17.3) had at least one risk factor. In participants aged ≥65 years, 54.1% (95% CI 51.4, 56.8) had at least one and 27.4% (95% CI 25.0, 29.9) had at least two risk factors. Extrapolating these numbers to the German population implies that around 9 million of the 17 million individuals aged 65 years or older are potentially at an elevated risk for adverse drug reactions, of which 4.6 million are at a potentially highly elevated risk for adverse drug reactions.

CONCLUSION

Our study shows that drug use is common and the individual risk for an adverse drug reaction in our population is high. This suggests room for improvement in general medication use.

Mild polypharmacy and MCI progression in older adults: the mediation effect of drug-drug interactions

BACKGROUND

Polypharmacy has been associated with worse cognitive performance, but its impact on mild cognitive impairment (MCI) progression to dementia has not been explored.

AIMS

The aims of the study were to investigate the association between multidrug regimens and MCI progression, and the possible mediation of drug-drug interactions and drugs' anticholinergic effect in such association.

METHODS

This work included 342 older adults with MCI, who were involved in an Italian multicenter population-based cohort study. Information on drugs taken was derived from general practitioners' records and data on drug-drug interactions and anticholinergic burden [evaluated through the Anticholinergic Cognitive Burden and the Anticholinergic Risk Scale (ARS)] were extracted. Multinomial logistic regressions assessed the associations between mild polypharmacy (≥ 3 drugs/day), drug-drug interactions, and anticholinergic burden with MCI changes after 1-year follow-up. Mediation analysis evaluated potential mediators of that relationship.

RESULTS

Approximately, 50% of participants took ≥ 3 drugs/day. During the follow-up, 4.1% of MCI patients progressed to dementia. The odds of developing dementia was sixfold higher in those who took ≥ 3drugs/day (OR = 6.04, 95% CI 1.19-30.74), eightfold higher in those with ≥ 1 drug-drug interaction/s (OR = 8.45, 95% CI 1.70-41.91), and fivefold higher in those with ARS ≥ 1 (OR = 5.10, 95% CI 1.04-24.93). Drug-drug interactions mediated 70.4% of the association between medication number and MCI progression to dementia (p = 0.07).

DISCUSSION

Our study suggests that even mild polypharmacy may increase the risk of MCI progression to dementia, probably due to the presence of drug-drug interactions, which often occur in multidrug regimens.

CONCLUSIONS

Older people require careful management of pharmacological treatments, with special attention to drug-drug interactions and drug-related anticholinergic effects.

Association of multimorbidity with higher levels of urinary incontinence: a cross-sectional study of 23 089 individuals aged ≥15 years residing in Spain

BACKGROUND

One can assume a relatively high prevalence of urinary incontinence (UI) in people with multimorbidity. However, literature in this area is scarce. There is a need for further robust research to aid GPs to identify patients at a particular risk for UI, and to initiate the early treatment and multidisciplinary management of this condition.

AIM

To examine the association between multimorbidity and UI in 23 089 individuals aged ≥15 years and residing in Spain.

DESIGN AND SETTING

This study used data from the Spanish National Health Survey 2017, a cross-sectional sample of 23 089 participants aged ≥15 years residing in Spain (54.1% female; mean [standard deviation] age = 53.4 [18.9] years).

METHOD

UI and 30 other physical and mental chronic conditions were self-reported. Multimorbidity was defined as the presence of ≥2 physical and/or mental chronic conditions (excluding UI). Control variables included sex, age, marital status, education, smoking, and alcohol consumption. Multivariable logistic regression analyses were conducted to assess the association between multimorbidity and UI.

RESULTS

The prevalence of UI was 5.9% in this sample. UI was more frequent in the presence than in the absence of each one of the 30 chronic conditions (P<0.001). The proportion of people with UI was also higher in the multimorbidity than in the no-multimorbidity group (9.8% versus 0.7%, P<0.001). After adjusting for several potential confounders (that is, sex, age, marital status, education, smoking, and alcohol), there was a significant and positive relationship between multimorbidity and UI (odds ratio = 5.02, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 3.89 to 6.59, P<0.001).

CONCLUSION

In this large sample of Spanish individuals aged ≥15 years, suffering from multimorbidity was associated with a significantly higher level of UI.

Changes in micronutrient intake and factors associated with this change among older Australian men: the Concord Health and Ageing in Men Project

OBJECTIVES

To examine changes in micronutrient intake over 3 years and identify any associations between socio-economic, health, lifestyle and meal-related factors and these changes in micronutrient intakes among older men.

DESIGN

Prospective study.

SETTING

Dietary adequacy of individual micronutrient was compared to the estimated average requirement of the nutrient reference values (NRV). Attainment of the NRV for twelve micronutrients was incorporated into a dichotomised variable 'not meeting' (meeting ≤ 6) or 'meeting' (meeting ≥ 7) and categorised into four categories to assess change in micronutrient intake over 3 years. The multinomial logistic regression analyses were conducted to model predictors of changes in micronutrient intake.

PARTICIPANTS

Seven hundred and ninety-four men participated in a detailed diet history interview at the third wave (baseline nutrition) and 718 men participated at the fourth wave (3-year follow-up).

RESULTS

The mean age was 81 years (range 75-99 years). Median intakes of the majority of micronutrients decreased significantly over a 3-year follow-up. Inadequacy of the NRV for thiamine, dietary folate, Zn, Mg, Ca and I were significantly increased at a 3-year follow-up than baseline nutrition. The incidence of inadequate micronutrient intake was 21 % and remained inadequate micronutrient intake was 16·4 % at 3-year follow-up. Changes in micronutrient intakes were significantly associated with participants born in the UK and Italy, low levels of physical activity, having ≥2 medical conditions and used meal services.

CONCLUSIONS

Micronutrient intake decreases with age in older men. Our results suggest that strategies to improve some of the suboptimal micronutrient intakes might need to be developed and implemented for older men.

Multimorbidity patterns, polypharmacy and their association with liver and kidney abnormalities in people over 65 years of age: a longitudinal study

BACKGROUND

The implementation of individual clinical practice guidelines in patients with multimorbidity often results in polypharmacy. Our aim was to analyse medication use according to longitudinal multimorbidity patterns (MP) and determine during a 5-year period (2012-16) which MP are associated with abnormal liver and kidney function in primary care patients over 65 years of age living in Catalonia.

METHODS

Design: Longitudinal study (years 2012 to 2016) based on the electronic health records contained in Information System for Research in Primary Care database of the Catalan Institute of Health (SIDIAP).

VARIABLES

age, sex, MP, medication and polypharmacy (drug exposure obtained from the Pharmacy Invoice Registry). Medicines were classified in accordance with the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical Classification System (ATC). Glomerular filtration rate was used to determine abnormal kidney function, and serum levels of alkaline phosphatase, alanine transaminase and gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase were used to diagnose abnormal liver function.

STATISTICS

For medication use in MP, we calculated annual mean packages of each drug in each MP, and observed/expected ratios were obtained by dividing mean packages in the cluster by mean packages of the same drug in the overall population. Logistic regression models were fitted to estimate the association between MP at baseline and abnormal kidney and liver function tests during follow up.

RESULTS

Nine hundred sixteen thousand six hundred nineteen patients were included, and 743,827 completed the follow up. We identified one polypharmacy profile per MP, and concluded that the most prescribed drugs in each pattern corresponded to the diseases overrepresented in that specific MP. The median of drugs ranged from 3 (Cluster 1 - Non-Specific) to 8 (Cluster 10 - Multisystem Pattern). Abnormal kidney function was most commonly observed in the Cluster 4 - Cardio-Circulatory and Renal (Odds Ratio [OR] 2.19; Confidence interval [CI] 95% 2.15-2.23) and Cluster 3 - Minority Metabolic Autoimmune-Inflammatory (OR 2.16; CI 95% 2.12-2.20) MP. A higher risk of abnormal liver function was observed in the Cluster 8 - Digestive (OR 3.39; CI 95% 3.30-3.49), and Cluster 4 - Cardio-Circulatory and Renal (OR 1.96; CI 95% 1.91-2.02) MP.

CONCLUSIONS

A higher risk of abnormal kidney and liver function was observed in specific MP. The long-term characterisation of MP and polypharmacy illustrates the burden of chronic multimorbidity and polypharmacy in the elderly population.

Multimorbidity among Two Million Adults in China

To explore the multimorbidity prevalence and patterns among middle-aged and older adults from China. Data on thirteen chronic diseases were collected from 2,097,150 participants aged over 45 years between January 1st 2011 and December 31st 2015 from Beijing Medical Claim Data for Employees. Association rule mining and hierarchical cluster analysis were applied to assess multimorbidity patterns. Multimorbidity prevalence was 51.6% and 81.3% in the middle-aged and older groups, respectively. The most prevalent disease pair was that of osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis (OARA) with hypertension (HT) (middle-aged: 22.5%; older: 41.8%). Ischaemic heart disease (IHD), HT, and OARA constituted the most common triad combination (middle-aged: 11.0%; older: 31.2%). Among the middle-aged group, the strongest associations were found in a combination of cerebrovascular disease (CBD), OARA, and HT with IHD in males (lift = 3.49), and CBD, OARA, and COPD with IHD in females (lift = 3.24). Among older patients, glaucoma and cataracts in females (lift = 2.95), and IHD, OARA, and glaucoma combined with cataracts in males (lift = 2.45) were observed. Visual impairment clusters, a mixed cluster of OARA, IHD, COPD, and cardiometabolic clusters were detected. Multimorbidity is prevalent among middle-aged and older Chinese individuals. The observations of multimorbidity patterns have implications for improving preventive care and developing appropriate guidelines for morbidity treatment.

MOBIlity assessment with modern TEChnology in older patients' real-life by the General Practitioner: the MOBITEC-GP study protocol

BACKGROUND

Mobility limitations in older adults are associated with poor clinical outcomes including higher mortality and disability rates. A decline in mobility (including physical function and life-space) is detectable and should be discovered as early as possible, as it can still be stabilized or even reversed in early stages by targeted interventions. General practitioners (GPs) would be in the ideal position to monitor the mobility of their older patients. However, easy-to-use and valid instruments for GPs to conduct mobility assessment in the real-life practice setting are missing. Modern technologies such as the global positioning system (GPS) and inertial measurement units (IMUs) - nowadays embedded in every smartphone - could facilitate monitoring of different aspects of mobility in the GP's practice.

METHODS

This project's aim is to provide GPs with a novel smartphone application that allows them to quantify their older patients' mobility. The project consists of three parts: development of the GPS- and IMU-based application, evaluation of its validity and reliability (Study 1), and evaluation of its applicability and acceptance (Study 2). In Study 1, participants (target N = 72, aged 65+, ≥2 chronic diseases) will perform a battery of walking tests (varying distances; varying levels of standardization). Besides videotaping and timing (gold standard), a high-end GPS device, a medium-accuracy GPS/IMU logger and three different smartphone models will be used to determine mobility parameters such as gait speed. Furthermore, participants will wear the medium-accuracy GPS/IMU logger and a smartphone for a week to determine their life-space mobility. Participants will be re-assessed after 1 week. In Study 2, participants (target N = 60, aged 65+, ≥2 chronic diseases) will be instructed on how to use the application by themselves. Participants will perform mobility assessments independently at their own homes. Aggregated test results will also be presented to GPs. Acceptance of the application will be assessed among patients and GPs. The application will then be finalized and publicly released.

DISCUSSION

If successful, the MOBITEC-GP application will offer health care providers the opportunity to follow their patients' mobility over time and to recognize impending needs (e.g. for targeted exercise) within pre-clinical stages of decline.