Polypharmacy

"Polypharmacy" is a descriptor in the National Library of Medicine's controlled vocabulary thesaurus, MeSH (Medical Subject Headings). Descriptors are arranged in a hierarchical structure, which enables searching at various levels of specificity.

MeSH information

Definition | Details | More General Concepts | Related Concepts | More Specific Concepts

The use of multiple drugs administered to the same patient, most commonly seen in elderly patients. It includes also the administration of excessive medication. Since in the United States most drugs are dispensed as single-agent formulations, polypharmacy, though using many drugs administered to the same patient, must be differentiated from DRUG COMBINATIONS, single preparations containing two or more drugs as a fixed dose, and from DRUG THERAPY, COMBINATION, two or more drugs administered separately for a combined effect. (From Segen, Dictionary of Modern Medicine, 1992)

Descriptor ID	D019338
MeSH Number(s)	E02.319.698
Concept/Terms	Polypharmacy Polypharmacy Polymedication

Below are MeSH descriptors whose meaning is more general than "Polypharmacy".

Analytical, Diagnostic and Therapeutic Techniques and Equipment [E]
Therapeutics [E02]
Drug Therapy [E02.319]
Polypharmacy [E02.319.698]

Below are MeSH descriptors whose meaning is more specific than "Polypharmacy".

Polypharmacy
Deprescriptions

publications

Timeline | Most Recent

This graph shows the total number of publications written about "Polypharmacy" by people in this website by year, and whether "Polypharmacy" was a major or minor topic of these publications.

Bar chart showing 15 publications over 9 distinct years, with a maximum of 5 publications in 2021

To see the data from this visualization as text, click here.

Year	Major Topic	Minor Topic	Total
2004	0	1	1
2008	1	0	1
2010	1	1	2
2012	1	0	1
2014	0	1	1
2017	0	1	1
2018	1	1	2
2019	0	1	1
2021	3	2	5

Below are the most recent publications written about "Polypharmacy" by people in Profiles.

Malik N, Weintraub WS. The Cardiovascular Risk of Proton Pump Inhibitors and the Dangers of Polypharmacy. Mayo Clin Proc. 2021 10; 96(10):2511-2513.

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Nightingale G, Scopelliti EM, Casten R, Woloshin M, Xiao S, Kelley M, Chang AM, Hollander JE, Leiby BE, Peterson AM, Pizzi LT, Rising KL, White N, Rovner B. Polypharmacy and Potentially Inappropriate Medication Use in Older Blacks with Diabetes Mellitus Presenting to the Emergency Department. J Aging Health. 2022 Aug-Sep; 34(4-5):499-507.

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Millenaar D, Schumacher H, Brueckmann M, Eikelboom JW, Ezekowitz M, Slawik J, Ewen S, Ukena C, Wallentin L, Connolly S, Yusuf S, B?hm M. Cardiovascular Outcomes According to Polypharmacy and Drug Adherence in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation on Long-Term Anticoagulation (from the RE-LY Trial). Am J Cardiol. 2021 06 15; 149:27-35.

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Cogswell R, Alam A, Joseph SM. Letter by Cogswell et al Regarding Article, "Polypharmacy in Older Adults Hospitalized for Heart Failure". Circ Heart Fail. 2021 03; 14(3):e008160.

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Spratt DE, Shore N, Sartor O, Rathkopf D, Olivier K. Treating the patient and not just the cancer: therapeutic burden in prostate cancer. Prostate Cancer Prostatic Dis. 2021 09; 24(3):647-661.

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Shore N, Zurth C, Fricke R, Gieschen H, Graudenz K, Koskinen M, Ploeger B, Moss J, Prien O, Borghesi G, Petrenciuc O, Tammela TL, Kuss I, Verholen F, Smith MR, Fizazi K. Evaluation of Clinically Relevant Drug-Drug Interactions and Population Pharmacokinetics of Darolutamide in Patients with Nonmetastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer: Results of Pre-Specified and Post Hoc Analyses of the Phase III ARAMIS Trial. Target Oncol. 2019 10; 14(5):527-539.

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Haas DM, Marsh DJ, Dang DT, Parker CB, Wing DA, Simhan HN, Grobman WA, Mercer BM, Silver RM, Hoffman MK, Parry S, Iams JD, Caritis SN, Wapner RJ, Esplin MS, Elovitz MA, Peaceman AM, Chung J, Saade GR, Reddy UM. Prescription and Other Medication Use in Pregnancy. Obstet Gynecol. 2018 05; 131(5):789-798.

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Djatche L, Lee S, Singer D, Hegarty SE, Lombardi M, Maio V. How confident are physicians in deprescribing for the elderly and what barriers prevent deprescribing? J Clin Pharm Ther. 2018 Aug; 43(4):550-555.

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Djatche L, Singer D, Heyer A, Lombardi M, Del Canale S, Maio V. How Can We Effectively Engage Physicians in the Deprescribing Process? Am J Med Qual. 2017 Nov/Dec; 32(6):581-582.

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Edelsohn GA, Schuster JM, Castelnovo K, Terhorst L, Parthasarathy M. Psychotropic prescribing for persons with intellectual disabilities and other psychiatric disorders. Psychiatr Serv. 2014 Feb 01; 65(2):201-7.

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