Trial reportArchives of gerontology and geriatrics
The association between polypharmacy, frailty and disability-free survival in community-dwelling healthy older individuals.
Trial report in Archives of gerontology and geriatrics. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
What it found
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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.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 17 citations in OpenAlex.
- Association of Proton Pump Inhibitor Use With Incident Dementia and Cognitive Decline in Older Adults: A Prospective Cohort Study.Gastroenterology · 2023Trial
- Evaluation of a Pharmacist-Led Intervention Focused on the Deprescribing of Cardiovascular and Antidiabetic Medication in Older Patients With Polypharmacy: Patients' and Pharmacists' Experiences.Basic & clinical pharmacology & toxicology · 2026Article
- Applying a multidisciplinary intervention for drug adequacy in an intermediate care hospital (AMIDA-ICH): study protocol of a complex intervention trial.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Article
- Medication Use by Older Adults with Frailty: A Scoping Review.Pharmacy (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Metabolic Syndrome in Older Adults: When Function Trumps Numbers.TouchREVIEWS in endocrinology · 2025Article
- Retrospective multi-centre cohort study of polypharmacy, the Drug Burden Index and associations with outcomes in older surgical inpatients.Age and ageing · 2025Article
- Article
- Evaluation of a care pathway for older adults presenting with nonspecific complaints at the emergency department: a before-and-after study.European geriatric medicine · 2025Article
- Examining the Effect of Polypharmacy on Quality of Life and Frailty in Older Adults from the Perspective of Community-Based Rehabilitation.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Walking for transport and all-cause mortality: a prospective cohort study of Australian community-dwelling older adults.BMJ public health · 2024Article
- Structured medication reviews for adults with multimorbidity and polypharmacy in primary care: a systematic review protocol.BMJ open · 2024Article
- The Association between Metabolic Syndrome, Frailty and Disability-Free Survival in Healthy Community-dwelling Older Adults.The journal of nutrition, health & aging · 2023Article
- The Association between Frailty and Dementia-Free and Physical Disability-Free Survival in Community-Dwelling Older Adults.Gerontology · 2023Article
- Number of medications and polypharmacy are associated with frailty in older adults: results from the Midlife in the United States study.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
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Authors and funding
15 authors at 7 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesPolypharmacy and frailty are two common geriatric conditions. In community-dwelling healthy older adults, we examined whether polypharmacy is associated with frailty and affects disability-free survival (DFS), assessed as a composite of death, dementia, or persistent physical disability.
methodsWe included 19,114 participants (median age 74.0 years, IQR: 6.1 years) from ASPirin in Reducing Events in the Elderly (ASPREE) clinical trial. Frailty was assessed by a modified Fried phenotype and a deficit accumulation Frailty Index (FI). Polypharmacy was defined as concomitant use of five or more prescription medications. Multinomial logistic regression was used to examine the cross-sectional association between polypharmacy and frailty at base line, and Cox regression to determine the effect of polypharmacy and frailty on DFS over five years.
resultsIndividuals with polypharmacy (vs. <5 medications) were 55% more likely to be pre-frail (Relative Risk Ratio or RRR: 1.55; 95%Confidence Interval or CI:1.44, 1.68) and three times more likely to be frail (RRR: 3.34; 95%CI:2.64, 4.22) according to Fried phenotype. Frailty alone was associated with double risk of the composite outcome (Hazard ratio or HR: 2.16; 95%CI: 1.56, 2.99), but frail individuals using polypharmacy had a four-fold risk (HR: 4.24; 95%CI: 3.28, 5.47). Effect sizes were larger when frailty was assessed using the FI.
conclusionPolypharmacy was significantly associated with pre-frailty and frailty at baseline. Polypharmacy-exposed frailty increased the risk of reducing disability-free survival among older adults. Addressing polypharmacy in older people could ameliorate the impact of frailty on individuals' functional status, cognition and survival.
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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.