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The EURO-FORTA (Fit fOR The Aged) List: International Consensus Validation of a Clinical Tool for Improved Drug Treatment in Older People

Drugs & Aging volume 35, pages 61–71 (2018)Cite this article

A Correction to this article was published on 02 July 2018

This article has been updated

Abstract

Background

Drug treatment of older people is still potentially inappropriate in many cases as multimorbidity and related polypharmacy are highly prevalent. To increase the quality of drug treatment in older people, the FORTA (Fit fOR The Aged) List (first version 2012) was developed in a Delphi consensus procedure and updated (FORTA2015) by 21 experts from Germany and Austria. It has been validated in a randomized, controlled, prospective trial demonstrating significant improvement in the quality of drug treatment and clinical endpoints (VALFORTA).

Methods

Based on these results, Delphi consensus validations (two rounds) of country/region-specific FORTA Lists were conducted in the UK/Ireland, France, Poland, Italy, Spain, the Nordic countries and The Netherlands. An algorithm based on geriatric/pharmacologic expertise, publications and professional position was used to find experts in the field.

Results

Forty-seven experts agreed to participate in the Delphi process (return rate of 97.9%). For each country/region, the overall mean consensus coefficient (deviation from the initiator proposal) was > 0.9. FORTA Lists from six countries/regions with a minimum of four participating experts (excluding The Netherlands) plus the original FORTA List were collated into the EURO-FORTA List containing 264 items in 26 main indication groups. Two drugs had to be added to the proposed items, as proposed by at least four countries/regions; none had to be removed.

Conclusion

This project produced seven new country/region-specific FORTA Lists, as well as the overarching EURO-FORTA List showing a high consensual level based on a broader expert base. EURO-FORTA should help to spread the FORTA approach and improve geriatric pharmacotherapy internationally.

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Change history

  • 02 July 2018

    In the original publication of this article, the members of the FORTA group were provided in such a way that they could not be indexed as collaborators on PubMed. The article should have included an Acknowledgement section as shown below.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology, Clinical Pharmacology, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Ruprecht-Karls-University Heidelberg, Theodor-Kutzer-Ufer 1-3, 68167, Mannheim, Germany

    Farhad Pazan & Martin Wehling

  2. Department of Medical Statistics, Biomathematics and Information Processing, Medical Faculty Mannheim, Heidelberg University, Ludolf-Krehl-Straße 13-17, 68167, Mannheim, Germany

    Christel Weiss

Authors
  1. Farhad Pazan
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  2. Christel Weiss
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  3. Martin Wehling
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Consortia

FORTA

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Martin Wehling.

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Funding

No sources of funding were received for this project or for the preparation of this manuscript.

Conflict of interest

M.W. was employed by AstraZeneca R&D, Mölndal, as director of discovery medicine (=translational medicine) from 2003 to 2006, while on sabbatical leave from his professorship at the University of Heidelberg. Since returning to this position in January 2007, he has received lecturing and consulting fees from Sanofi-Aventis, Bayer, Boehringer-Ingelheim, Novartis, Takeda, Roche, Pfizer, Bristol-Myers, Daichii-Sankyo, Lilly, Otsuka, Novo-Nordisk, Berlin-Chemie, Shire and LEO Pharma. F.P. and C.W. have no conflicts of interest to declare.

Additional information

The FORTA initiators/expert panel members are listed in electronic supplementary material 2–10.

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Pazan, F., Weiss, C., Wehling, M. et al. The EURO-FORTA (Fit fOR The Aged) List: International Consensus Validation of a Clinical Tool for Improved Drug Treatment in Older People. Drugs Aging 35, 61–71 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40266-017-0514-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40266-017-0514-2