ArticleDrugs & aging2011
Variation over time in the association between polypharmacy and mortality in the older population.
Article in Drugs & aging, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 48 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
48 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 97 citations in OpenAlex.
- Polypharmacy and health outcomes in atrial fibrillation: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Open heart · 2020Pooled it
- What is polypharmacy? A systematic review of definitions.BMC geriatrics · 2017Pooled it
- Health outcomes associated with polypharmacy in community-dwelling older adults: a systematic review.Journal of the American Geriatrics Society · 2014Pooled it
- Polypharmacy in outpatients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis: A single-center study.PloS one · 2019Trial
- Cost-effectiveness of a community-integrated home-based depression intervention in older African Americans.Journal of the American Geriatrics Society · 2014Trial
- One-year body weight loss and gain as independent predictors of frailty-related outcomes and mortality in an aging Japanese population.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Article
- Prevalence of polypharmacy use and association with mortality: a cohort study of elderly people in Southern Brazil, 2014-2017.Epidemiologia e servicos de saude : revista do Sistema Unico de Saude do Brasil · 2025Article
- The impact of polypharmacy on health outcomes in the aged: A retrospective cohort study.PloS one · 2025Article
- Evaluation of deprescription by general practitioners in elderly people with different levels of dependence: cross-sectional study.BMC primary care · 2024Article
- Number of medically prescribed pharmaceutical agents as predictor of mortality risk: a longitudinal, time-variable analysis in the EPIC-Heidelberg cohort.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Effectiveness of countermeasure for polypharmacy by multidisciplinary team review in patients with diabetes mellitus.Journal of diabetes investigation · 2023Observational
- Polypharmacy with potentially inappropriate medications as a risk factor of new onset sarcopenia among community-dwelling Japanese older adults: a 9-year Kashiwa cohort study.BMC geriatrics · 2023Article
- Polypharmacy and risk of mortality among patients with heart failure following hospitalization: a nested case-control study.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Is polypharmacy associated with mortality in the very old: Findings from the Newcastle 85+ Study.British journal of clinical pharmacology · 2022Article
- Dose-Response Relationships Between Polypharmacy and All-Cause and Cause-Specific Mortality Among Older People.The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences · 2022Article
- Association of personality traits with polypharmacy among community-dwelling older adults in Japan: a cross-sectional analysis of data from the SONIC study.BMC geriatrics · 2022Article
- Article
- The impact of high-risk medications on mortality risk among older adults with polypharmacy: evidence from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing.BMC medicine · 2021Article
- Polypharmacy and mortality association by chronic kidney disease status: The REasons for Geographic And Racial Differences in Stroke Study.Pharmacology research & perspectives · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundIn the older population, multimorbidity is common and 'best practice' may invite the prescription of multiple medications.
objectiveTo examine the association between polypharmacy, defined as the concurrent use of five or more prescription or nonprescription medications, and mortality in 12 423 participants aged ≥65 years representative of the older population of England and Wales.
methodsData on self-reported medication use, disability and health conditions were collected at baseline in 1991-3. The cohort was followed for up to 18 years with full mortality notification. Cox proportional hazards regression adjusted for age, baseline institutionalization, smoking, disability and health conditions was used to investigate polypharmacy and mortality, stratified by sex. Various methods for modelling the time-varying effect of polypharmacy are presented.
resultsA strong independent association between polypharmacy and mortality existed in the short-term (first 2 years) for both men and women. This association remained, although attenuated, in the medium-long term (2-18 years of follow-up) for women, but became non-significant in the longer term for men.
conclusionsIt remains unclear whether polypharmacy is a marker for poor health or is an independent risk factor for mortality. However, polypharmacy strongly predicts adverse outcomes, and multiple medication use should therefore be carefully monitored in the older population.
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