Evidence map›Paper›PMID 34981552›Full record

ArticleBritish journal of clinical pharmacology2022

Is polypharmacy associated with mortality in the very old: Findings from the Newcastle 85+ Study.

Laurie E Davies, Andrew Kingston, Adam Todd, Barbara Hanratty

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in British journal of clinical pharmacology, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
14citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
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

14 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Pooled it
  3. Polypharmacy Thresholds that Best Predict Emergency Room Visits and Mortality in Older Adults: A Population-Based Study in Québec, Canada.Journal of applied gerontology : the official journal of the Southern Gerontological Society · 2026
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Laurie E DaviesPopulation Health Sciences Institute, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.ORCID 0000-0003-4931-3270
Andrew KingstonPopulation Health Sciences Institute, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
Adam ToddSchool of Pharmacy, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.
Barbara HanrattyPopulation Health Sciences Institute, Newcastle University, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Polypharmacy is common in the very old (≥85 years), where little is known about its association with mortality. We aimed to investigate the association between polypharmacy and all-cause mortality in the very old, over an 11-year time period. Data were drawn from the Newcastle 85+ Study (741), a cohort of people who were born in 1921 and turned 85 in 2006. Survival analysis was performed using Cox proportional hazards models with time-varying covariates, wherein polypharmacy was operationalised continuously. Each additional medication prescribed was associated with a 3% increased risk of mortality (hazard ratio: 1.03, 95% confidence interval: 1.00-1.06). Amongst the very old, the risks and benefits of each additional medication prescribed should be carefully considered.

Indexed as

PolypharmacyAged, 80 and overCohort StudiesHumansProportional Hazards Modelsmortalitypolypharmacyvery old

Identifiers

PMID34981552
PMCPMC9302636

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY-NC
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Registered trials

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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.