Evidence map›Paper›PMID 24584682›Full record

ArticleSupportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer2014

Prevalence and factors associated with polypharmacy in older people with cancer.

Justin P Turner, Sepehr Shakib, Nimit Singhal, Jonathon Hogan-Doran, Robert Prowse, Sally Johns, J Simon Bell

Erratum issuedAbstract read
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In one paragraph

Article in Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 63 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
63citing papers in PubMed, 5 pooled it
6.7field-weighted citation impact, top 3% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

63 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 145 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Deprescribing in palliative patients with cancer: a concise review of tools and guidelines.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2022
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  13. Patterns of medication use following breast cancer diagnosis: an Australian population-based study.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2025
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3 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

  • Erratum issued
5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.

Justin P TurnerSchool of Pharmacy and Medical Sciences, University of South Australia, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia, justin.turner@unisa.edu.au.
Sepehr Shakib
Nimit Singhal
Jonathon Hogan-Doran
Robert Prowse
Sally Johns
J Simon Bell
Royal Adelaide Hospital · AUMonash University · AUUniversity of Adelaide · AUUniversity of South Australia · AU

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

purposePolypharmacy has been associated with drug-drug interactions, adverse drug events, hospitalisation and increased mortality. The purpose of this study was to investigate the prevalence and factors associated with polypharmacy in older people with cancer. PATIENTS AND

methodsPatients aged≥70 years (n=385) presenting to the medical oncology outpatient clinic at Royal Adelaide Hospital between January 2009 and July 2010 completed a structured data collection instrument. The instrument included domains related to medications, diagnoses, instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs), Karnofsky Performance Scale (KPS), physical function (SF-36), pain (ten-point visual analogue scale, VAS), weight loss (patient self-reported over previous 6 months), exhaustion (CES-D) and distress (ten-point VAS). Frailty was computed using Fried's frailty phenotype. Logistic regression was used to compute unadjusted and adjusted odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for the association between polypharmacy (defined as five or more self-reported daily medications) and clinical parameters.

resultsPolypharmacy was present in 57% (n=221) of patients. When adjusting for age, gender and Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI), polypharmacy was associated with being pre-frail (OR=2.35, 95%CI=1.43-3.86) and frail (OR=4.48, 95%CI=1.90-10.54) compared to being robust. When adjusting for age, gender, exhaustion, KPS, IADLs, pain and distress, polypharmacy was associated with higher CCI scores (OR=1.58, 95%CI=1.29-1.94) and poorer physical function (OR=1.13, 95%CI=1.06-1.20).

conclusionsPolypharmacy is highly prevalent in older people with cancer and associated with impaired physical function and being pre-frail and frail compared to being robust. Research is needed to identify strategies to minimize patients' medication regimens.

Indexed as

PolypharmacyActivities of Daily LivingAgedAged, 80 and overAge FactorsCross-Sectional StudiesDrug InteractionsFemaleFrail ElderlyGeriatric AssessmentHumansLogistic ModelsMaleNeoplasmsOdds RatioPain

Identifiers

PMID24584682
OpenAlexW2054843689

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.