ArticleTherapeutics and clinical risk management2007
Polypharmacy in elderly patients at discharge from the acute care hospital.
Article in Therapeutics and clinical risk management, 2007. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 33 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
33 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 80 citations in OpenAlex.
- Multi-drug therapy in chronic condition multimorbidity: a systematic review.Family practice · 2014Pooled it
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- Determinants of poor chronic obstructive pulmonary disease control.The Libyan journal of medicine · 2025Article
- Prevalence and predictors of polypharmacy and comorbidities among patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a cross-sectional retrospective study in a tertiary hospital in Saudi Arabia.BMC pulmonary medicine · 2024Article
- Prescribing differences among older adults with differing health cover and socioeconomic status: a cohort study.BMC geriatrics · 2023Observational
- Potentially inappropriate medications and medication combinations before, during and after hospitalizations: an analysis of pathways and determinants in the Swiss healthcare setting.BMC health services research · 2021Article
- Increasing the Effectiveness of Pharmacotherapy in Psychiatry by Using a Pharmacological Interaction Database.Journal of clinical medicine · 2021Article
- Big data analysis techniques to address polypharmacy in patients - a scoping review.BMC family practice · 2020Article
- The impact of hospitalisation to geriatric wards on the use of medications and potentially inappropriate medications - a health register study.BMC geriatrics · 2020Article
- Comorbidity does not mean clinical complexity: evidence from the RePoSI register.Internal and emergency medicine · 2020Article
- A scoping review of polypharmacy interventions in patients with stroke, heart disease and diabetes.International journal of clinical pharmacy · 2020Article
- Anticholinergic Cognitive Burden as a Predictive Factor for In-hospital Mortality in Older Patients in Korea.Annals of geriatric medicine and research · 2020Article
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- Polypharmacy in older patients with chronic diseases: a cross-sectional analysis of factors associated with excessive polypharmacy.BMC family practice · 2018Article
- Article
- Medication regimen complexity and prevalence of potentially inappropriate medicines in older patients after hospitalisation.International journal of clinical pharmacy · 2017Article
- How does hospitalization affect continuity of drug therapy: an exploratory study.Therapeutics and clinical risk management · 2016Article
- Excessive polypharmacy and survival in polypathological patients.European journal of clinical pharmacology · 2015Observational
- Polypharmacy and medication regimen complexity as factors associated with hospital discharge destination among older people: a prospective cohort study.Drugs & aging · 2014Article
- Changes in drug prescribing to Italian community-dwelling elderly people: the EPIFARM-Elderly Project 2000-2010.European journal of clinical pharmacology · 2014Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo investigate correlates of polypharmacy at discharge from wards of general medicine and geriatrics. POPULATION: 2465 patients enrolled in the Gruppo Italiano di Farmacovigilanza nell'Anziano (GIFA) study.
main outcome measurePolypharmacy, ie having more than 6 drugs prescribed at discharge.
methodsData on drugs prescribed at home, during hospital stay, and at discharge were collected according to a validated procedure. Logistic regression analysis was used to identify independent correlates of polypharmacy at discharge. The adherence to current therapeutic guidelines was assessed for selected drugs (digitalis, diuretics, antithrombotics, bronchodilators)
resultsThe median number of prescribed drugs was 3.0 before admission and 4.0 at discharge (p < 0.001). Polypharmacy prior to admission (Odds Ratio [OR] 4.32, 95% Confidence Interval [CI] 3.13-5.96), cumulative comorbidity (OR 1.81, 95% CI 1.40-2.32) and selected chronicconditions (diabetes, heart failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, renal insufficiency, and depression) were significant correlates of polypharmacy at discharge. Negative correlate of the outcome was the occurrence of adverse drug reactions prior to admission (OR 0.22, 95% CI 0.09-0.51). The rate of appropriate prescription reached 80% only for antithrombotics either at home or in hospital and at discharge.
conclusionsHospitalization increases drug prescription at discharge in elderly patients. Efforts are needed to identify the determinants and to assess the quality of this prescription practice, with the final aim of contrasting polypharmacy.
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Registered trials
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