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
. 2019 Jun 17;12(5):659-662.
doi: 10.1093/ckj/sfz072. eCollection 2019 Oct.

Is polypharmacy an increasing burden in chronic kidney disease? The German experience

Affiliations

Is polypharmacy an increasing burden in chronic kidney disease? The German experience

Kathrine Parker et al. Clin Kidney J. .

Abstract

This is a commentary article describing the key findings of the German chronic kidney disease (GCKD) study and how these relate to current practice. With the GCKD study showing high levels of polypharmacy, this article discusses ways to ensure that polypharmacy is appropriate and the difficulties faced within a chronic kidney disease population. Suggestions of ways to minimize medication burden in renal patients provide some practical advice for clinicians.

Keywords: chronic kidney disease; deprescribing; medication burden; polypharmacy; prescribing patterns.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Sumukadas D, McMurdo ME, Mangoni AA. et al. Temporal trends in anticholinergic medication prescription in older people: repeated crosssectional analysis of population prescribing data. Age Ageing 2014; 43: 515–521 - PubMed
    1. Hovstadius B, Hovstadius K, Astrand B. et al. Increasing polypharmacy: an individual-based study of the Swedish population 2005–2008. BMC Clin Pharmacol 2010; 10: 16. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Franchi C, Tettamanti M, Pasina L. et al. Changes in drug prescribing to Italian community-dwelling elderly people: the EPIFARM-Elderly Project 2000–2010. Eur J Clin Pharmacol 2014; 70: 437–443 - PubMed
    1. Chiu YW, Teitelbaum I, Misra M. et al. Pill burden, adherence, hyperphosphatemia, and quality of life in maintenance dialysis patients. Clin J Am Soc Nephrol 2009; 4: 1089–1096 - PMC - PubMed
    1. Parker K, Nikam M, Jayanti A. et al. Medication burden in CKD-5D: impact of dialysis modality and setting. Clin Kidney J 2014; 7: 557–561 - PMC - PubMed