Researchers have termed as 'misleading' the commonly-held assumption
that taking several medicines for multiple health conditions is
hazardous.
According to them, polypharmacy - where patients, generally older
adults (those aged over 65 years), use multiple medications - needs more
sophisticated approaches to assess the suitability of each patient's
set of medicines.
"Today, we have more elderly people and also a rising number of people
are being diagnosed with multiple health conditions," said lead author
Rupert Payne who works at the Cambridge Centre for Health Services
Research.
Working with colleagues in Nottingham and Glasgow, Payne analysed data for 180,815 adults with long-term clinical conditions.
They found that for patients with only a single medical condition,
taking 10 or more medications was associated with a more than three-fold
increase in an unplanned hospitalisation compared to patients who took
only one to three medicines.
However, patients with six or more medical conditions who used 10 or
more medications only increased their chance of admission by 1.5 times -
compared to the group taking one to three medicines, said the study
published in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology. Read more..
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