Key summary points Aim The impact of polypharmacy on 30-day COVID-related mortality in nursing home residents was assessed after adjustment for age, sex, CCI, BMI and vaccination status. Findings A significant positive association between a higher total number of medications and 30-day COVID-related mortality in NH residents was found. However, this association was attenuated when adjusted for dementia and use of PPI, vitamin D, antipsychotics and antithrombotics. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s41999-022-00723-4.

Introduction Polypharmacy is common in the frail nursing home population and associated with an increased risk of adverse events, unplanned hospitalizations, and increased all-cause mortality. Deprescribing using a deprescribing algorithm might reduce unnecessary polypharmacy. This exploratory study was performed to determine the effect of this implicit deprescribing algorithm in deprescribing statins and proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) in nursing home residents. Method Multicenter, longitudinal, single-arm exploratory study. All participants received the same deprescribing intervention to identify and deprescribe potentially inappropriate statins and/or PPIs. Residents across 10 nursing homes in the Netherlands were included if they used a statin and/or PPI. Residents in hospices or short-stay wards were excluded. The intervention involved a deprescribing algorithm in which nursing home physicians identified and, if possible, deprescribed potentially inappropriate statins and/or PPIs. Results Sixty-seven residents participated in the study. At 3 months, deprescribing was successful in 52% of the residents. Six months after the intervention, all these residents still had their medication sustainably deprescribed. Conclusion Based on this study, deprescribing statins and PPIs using an implicit deprescribing algorithm is possible in a considerable number of nursing home residents.