Prior to the QMR
- Review the Quarterly Medication Review Deprescribing Focus – ASA and Statins for Primary Prevention
- Reassess all residents on ASA or statins. If using for primary prevention of cardiovascular (CV) disease, consider deprescribing.
During the QMR
For all residents on ASA:
- Determine the indication for low dose ASA
- Based on current evidence, consider discontinuing ASA if being used solely for primary prevention of CV disease
For all residents on statins:
- Determine whether the statin is being used for primary or secondary prevention of CV disease
- If being used for primary prevention, consider the benefits and harms of ongoing treatment:
- Resident’s cardiovascular risk
- Resident’s goal of care
- Adverse events (see Table 1 – Statin Adverse Events on page 5)
- Drug interactions
- Pill burden/medication pass time; polypharmacy
- Goals of care
- Consider discontinuing or decreasing the dose of statin being used for primary prevention of CV disease
- Assess if any of the other medications the resident is taking interacts with statins. Reducing the dose or stopping a statin may necessitate dose adjustments or monitoring of other medications the resident is taking
QMR Contents:
ASA for Primary Prevention
- Guideline recommendations → page 2
- Evidence for ASA in primary prevention → page 2
- ASA deprescribing recommendations → page 2
Statins for Primary Prevention
- Guideline recommendations → page 3
- Evidence for statins in primary prevention → page 3
- Evidence for deprescribing statins → page 4
- Statin dose reduction → page 4
- Factors that support deprescribing statins → page 4 & 5
- Statin deprescribing recommendations → page 5