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Multicenter Study
. 2011 Feb;61(583):128-30.
doi: 10.3399/bjgp11X556263.

Potential health impacts of multiple drug prescribing for older people: a case-control study

Affiliations
Multicenter Study

Potential health impacts of multiple drug prescribing for older people: a case-control study

Umesh T Kadam. Br J Gen Pract. 2011 Feb.

Abstract

Using a prescription-survey linkage dataset for 4506 people aged ≥50 years from six general practices, the null hypothesis that multiple drug prescribing was not associated with changes in health over a 3-year time-period was investigated. There was a significant trend in the adjusted association between higher levels of multidrug therapy and deterioration in both physical and psychological health over a 3-year time period. The study highlights the potential need for assessing drug prescribing in terms of overall health.

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