Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2016 Mar 24;6(3):e010989.
doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2015-010989.

Defining polypharmacy in the elderly: a systematic review protocol

Seyede Salehe Mortazavi  1 , Mohsen Shati  2 , Abasali Keshtkar  3 , Seyed Kazem Malakouti  1 , Mohsen Bazargan  4 , Shervin Assari  5
Affiliations

Defining polypharmacy in the elderly: a systematic review protocol

Seyede Salehe Mortazavi et al. BMJ Open. .

Abstract

Introduction: Ageing--along with its associated physiological and pathological changes--places individuals at a higher risk of multimorbidity and treatment-related complications. Today, polypharmacy, a common and important problem related to drug use, occurs subsequent to this multimorbidity in the elderly in all populations. In recent decades, several scientific investigations have studied polypharmacy and its correlates, using different approaches and definitions, and their results have been inconclusive. Differences in definitions and approaches in these studies form a barrier against reaching a conclusion regarding the risk factors and consequences of polypharmacy. It is therefore imperative to establish an appropriate definition of polypharmacy.

Methods and analysis: A systematic review will be conducted using PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, EMBASE, PsycINFO and AgeLine bibliographic databases, as well as the grey literature on polypharmacy in older adults to answer these two questions: What definitions in the literature are being used for polypharmacy in older people?, and Which definitions are more comprehensive and applicable? 2 independent reviewers will conduct the primary screening of the articles and data extraction, and eligible sources will be selected after discussing non-conformities. All extracted data from selected articles will be categorised based on the type of study participants, study design and setting, the methodological quality of primary studies and any other potential source of heterogeneity, and results will be summarised in a table, which will contain the levels of evidence and methodological quality of the included studies. The most comprehensive definition of polypharmacy will be selected from the final list of definitions through an international expert webinar.

Ethics and dissemination: This research is exempt from ethics approval because the work is carried out on published documents. We will disseminate this protocol in a related peer-reviewed journal.

Keywords: Aging; Polypharmacy; definition; elderly; multimorbidity; systematic review.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Patterson SM, Hughes CA, Kerse N et al. . Interventions to improve the appropriate use of polypharmacy for older people. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2012;5:CD008165 10.1002/14651858.CD008165.pub2 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Johnell K, Klarin I. The relationship between number of drugs and potential drug-drug interactions in the elderly. Drug Saf 2007;30:911–18. 10.2165/00002018-200730100-00009 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Prybys K, Melville K, Hanna J et al. . Polypharmacy in the elderly: clinical challenges in emergency practice: part 1 overview, etiology, and drug interactions. Emerg Med Rep 2002;23:145–53.
    1. Fick D, Semla T, Beizer J et al. . American Geriatrics Society updated Beers Criteria for potentially inappropriate medication use in older adults. J Am Geriatr Soc 2012;60:616–31. 10.1111/j.1532-5415.2012.03923.x - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Fick DM, Cooper JW, Wade WE et al. . Updating the Beers criteria for potentially inappropriate medication use in older adults: results of a US consensus panel of experts. Arch Intern Med 2003;163:2716 10.1001/archinte.163.22.2716 - DOI - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources