ArticleThe oncologist2021
Association of Polypharmacy with Colorectal Cancer Survival Among Older Patients.
Article in The oncologist, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled 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.
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.
Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 17 citations in OpenAlex.
- Medication Management of Patients With Cancer Undergoing Surgery From Preadmission to Discharge: A Mixed-Methods Systematic Review.Journal of advanced nursing · 2025Pooled it
- Predictors of treatment refusal in patients with colorectal cancer: A systematic review.Seminars in oncology · 2022Pooled it
- The Association Between Anticholinergic Burden and Treatment-Related Complications in Older Adults with Cancer.Drugs & aging · 2026Article
- Polypharmacy among people diagnosed with colorectal cancer in Australia: a population-based cohort study.The oncologist · 2026Article
- Impact of renal impairment on early development of severe neutropenia with trifluridine/tipiracil treatment for metastatic colorectal cancer.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- A retrospective study examining the association between polypharmacy and complications after laparoscopic surgery for colorectal cancer.Journal of pharmaceutical health care and sciences · 2024Article
- Postoperative Multimodal Analgesia Strategy for Enhanced Recovery After Surgery in Elderly Colorectal Cancer Patients.Pain and therapy · 2024Review
- Surveillance colonoscopy findings in asymptomatic participants over 75 years of age.JGH open : an open access journal of gastroenterology and hepatology · 2024Article
- The Characterization of Non-oncologic Chronic Drug Therapy in Bladder Cancer Patients and the Impact on Recurrence-Free and Cancer-Specific Survival: A Prospective Study.Journal of clinical medicine · 2023Article
- Protocol of the optimal study: Optimization of polypharmacy in geriatric oncology - A randomized controlled trial.BMC cancer · 2023Article
- The Association Between Medication Use in Older Women with Early-Stage Operable Primary Breast Cancer and Decision Regarding Primary Treatment.The oncologist · 2023Article
- Impact of Polypharmacy on Perioperative Outcomes of Robot-assisted Laparoscopic Partial Nephrectomy for Small Renal Masses.In vivo (Athens, Greece)Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundIn geriatric oncology, polypharmacy is often assessed during a comprehensive geriatric assessment. Previous studies about its association with survival among patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) were inconclusive and had high risk for indication bias. PATIENTS AND
methodsA cohort study was conducted with 3,239 patients with CRC, aged ≥65 years, who were recruited in Germany between 2003 and 2016, while being hospitalized for CRC surgery. We defined polypharmacy as the concurrent use of five or more drugs, and excessive polypharmacy (EPP) as concurrent use of eight or more drugs. Cox proportional hazards regression models were performed to assess the associations of polypharmacy with 5-year overall (OS), CRC-specific (CSS), and non-cancer-specific survival (NCS) with rigorous adjustment for morbidity to minimize indication bias (e.g., for cancer stage, functional status, and 13 common diseases/conditions).
resultsThe prevalence of polypharmacy was 54.7% and that of EPP was 24.2%. During up to 5 years of follow-up, 1,070 participants died, among whom 615 died of CRC and 296 died of other causes than cancer. EPP was statistically significantly associated with poorer up-to-5-year OS (hazard ratio [HR], 1.23; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.02-1.47) and CSS (HR, 1.31; 95% CI, 1.03-1.68). HR point estimate for NCS was higher than 1 (1.22) but not statistically significant.
conclusionPolypharmacy was very common and EPP was a weak risk factor for mortality in this large cohort of older patients with CRC. Clinical trials are needed to address the causality of this relationship because older patients with CRC might benefit from deprescribing drugs without an indication. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: The results of this study support the hypothesis that excessive polypharmacy, defined as use of eight or more concurrently used active substances, has a negative impact on the prognosis of older patients with colorectal cancer (CRC). This study suggests to oncologists that performing a medication review for older patients with CRC with eight drugs or more is indicated (especially when a broader comprehensive geriatric assessment is being performed). Such a medication review should not only focus on reducing the number of medications (by deprescribing drugs without an indication) but also check the appropriateness of indicated drugs for older patients with cancer.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.