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Cited by 544

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 70 of the 70 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Adverse Outcomes of Polypharmacy in Older People: Systematic Review of Reviews

Open access
Davies, Laurie E., Spiers, Gemma, Kingston, Andrew, Todd, Adam, Adamson, Joy, Hanratty, Barbara·2020·Journal of the American Medical Directors Association
DOI 10.1016/j.jamda.2019.10.022
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Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Polypharmacy is widespread among older people, but the adverse outcomes associated with it are unclear. We aim to synthesize current evidence on the adverse health, social, medicines management, and health care utilization outcomes of polypharmacy in older people. DESIGN: A systematic review, of systematic reviews and meta-analyses of observational studies, was conducted. Eleven bibliographic databases were searched from 1990 to February 2018. Quality was assessed using AMSTAR (A Measurement Tool to Assess Systematic Reviews). SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Older people in any health care setting, residential setting, or country. RESULTS: Twenty-six reviews reporting on 230 unique studies were included. Almost all reviews operationalized polypharmacy as medication count, and few examined medication classes or disease states within this. Evidence for an association between polypharmacy and many adverse outcomes, including adverse drug events and disability, was conflicting. The most consistent evidence was found for hospitalization and inappropriate prescribing. No research had explored polypharmacy in the very old (aged ≥85 years), or examined the potential social consequences associated with medication use, such as loneliness and isolation. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: The literature examining the adverse outcomes of polypharmacy in older people is complex, extensive, and conflicting. Until polypharmacy is operationalized in a more clinically relevant manner, the adverse outcomes associated with it will not be fully understood. Future studies should work toward this approach in the face of rising multimorbidity and population aging.

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Metadata

Authors
Davies, L. E., Spiers, G., Kingston, A., Todd, A., Adamson, J., & Hanratty, B.
Venue
Journal of the American Medical Directors Association
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2020-02
Volume
21
Issue
2
Pages
181-187
ISSN
1525-8610 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.jamda.2019.10.022
OpenAlex
W3000114476
Cited by
544
References
70
FWCI
8.08
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
hybrid

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CoChat. (2026). Citation check: Adverse Outcomes of Polypharmacy in Older People: Systematic Review of Reviews. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1016/j.jamda.2019.10.022
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Davies, L. E., Spiers, G., Kingston, A., Todd, A., Adamson, J., & Hanratty, B. (2020). Adverse Outcomes of Polypharmacy in Older People: Systematic Review of Reviews. Journal of the American Medical Directors Association. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jamda.2019.10.022

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Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).

Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.