ArticleEuropean journal of clinical pharmacology2015
Optimizing elderly pharmacotherapy: polypharmacy vs. undertreatment. Are these two concepts related?
Article in European journal of clinical pharmacology, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers.
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Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed.
- Prevalence and Associated Factors of Polypharmacy Among Emirati Community-Dwelling Older Adults: A Cross-Sectional Survey.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Polypharmacy and potentially inappropriate prescribing in people with type 2 diabetes: An analysis of the Scottish Diabetes Research Network national diabetes cohort.Diabetic medicine : a journal of the British Diabetic Association · 2026Article
- Potentially inappropriate prescribing in polymedicated older adults with atrial fibrillation and multimorbidity: a Swedish national register-based cohort study.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2024Article
- Rate of Polypharmacy and Its Determinants Among Older Adult Cardiovascular Patients at Hiwot Fana Comprehensive Specialized Hospital in Eastern Ethiopia.Current therapeutic research, clinical and experimental · 2024Article
- Feasibility study of a clinical decision support system for polymedicated patients in primary care.Healthcare technology letters · 2023Review
- A Video-Based Mobile App as a Health Literacy Tool for Older Adults Living at Home: Protocol for a Utility Study.JMIR research protocols · 2022Article
- Under-prescription of medications in older adults according to START criteria: A cross-sectional study in Lebanon.Health science reports · 2022Article
- The patterns and implications of potentially suboptimal medicine regimens among older adults: a narrative review.Therapeutic advances in drug safety · 2022Review
- Underprescription of medications in older adults: causes, consequences and solutions-a narrative review.European geriatric medicine · 2021Review
- The effects of in-hospital deprescribing on potential prescribing omission in hospitalized elderly patients with polypharmacy.Scientific reports · 2021Observational
- Prevalence and Associated Factors of Polypharmacy in Nursing Home Residents: A Cross-Sectional Study.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2021Article
- Enhanced learning and retention of medical information in Alzheimer's disease after differential outcomes training.PloS one · 2020Article
- Polypharmacy and Pharmacological Treatment of Diabetes in Older Individuals: A Population-Based Study in Quebec, Canada.Pharmacy (Basel, Switzerland) · 2019Article
- Evaluation of Inappropriate Prescribing in Patients Older than 65 Years in Primary Health Care.Journal of clinical medicine · 2019Article
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- Factors associated with medication adherence in older patients: A systematic review.Aging medicine (Milton (N.S.W)) · 2018Article
- Number of medications or number of diseases: what influences underprescribing?European journal of clinical pharmacology · 2017Article
- Prevalence and Covariates of Polypharmacy in Elderly Patients on Discharge from a Tertiary Care Hospital in Oman.Oman medical journal · 2016Article
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Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeThis study aimed to estimate the prevalence of polypharmacy and potential prescribing omissions (PPO) and their related factors in community-dwelling elderly patients and to examine any possible relationship between these two concepts.
methodsA cross-sectional study was carried out including patients 65 years of age or over living on the island of Lanzarote (Spain). Sociodemographic, clinical and functional variables were collected, together with full data on drug therapy. The percentage of patients receiving ≥5 medications (polypharmacy) and the percentage of patients receiving at least one PPO according to Screening Tool to Alert doctors to Right Treatment (START) criteria (underprescription) were the two primary endpoints.
resultsA total of 1844 medications were prescribed to the 407 patients included in our study. The overall prevalence of polypharmacy was 45 %. The risk factors associated with polypharmacy were comorbidity (OR 1.98, 95 % CI 1.63-2.44), limitations in activities of daily living (ADL; OR 3.0, 95 % CI 1.51-6.11), and being prescribed a drug in the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical classification (ATC) C group (OR 7.92, 95 % CI 4.10-16.25) or in the N group (OR 3.80, 95 % CI 2.25-6.55). START criteria identified a total of 303 PPO in 170 (41.8 %) subjects. The risk of PPO increased by 60 % for every additional point in the Charlson Comorbidity Index (OR 1.60, 95 % CI 1.35-1.91). Polypharmacy also independently predicted the odds of at least one PPO according to START criteria (OR 2.19, 95 % CI 1.36-3.55).
conclusionOur findings show high rates of polypharmacy and PPO, as well as a clear relationship between these two concepts.
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Registered trials
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.