"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.
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
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| MeSH Number(s) |
E02.319.698
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| Concept/Terms |
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Below are MeSH descriptors whose meaning is more general than "Polypharmacy".
Below are MeSH descriptors whose meaning is more specific than "Polypharmacy".
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.
To see the data from this visualization as text,
click here.
| Year | Major Topic | Minor Topic | Total |
|---|
| 2003 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 2005 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2007 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 2008 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2010 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2012 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 2017 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
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Below are the most recent publications written about "Polypharmacy" by people in Profiles.
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Nightingale G, Skonecki E, Boparai MK. The Impact of Polypharmacy on Patient Outcomes in Older Adults With Cancer. Cancer J. 2017 Jul/Aug; 23(4):211-218.
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Shah BM, Hajjar ER. Polypharmacy, adverse drug reactions, and geriatric syndromes. Clin Geriatr Med. 2012 May; 28(2):173-86.
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DeSevo G, Klootwyk J. Pharmacologic issues in management of chronic disease. Prim Care. 2012 Jun; 39(2):345-62.
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Slabaugh SL, Maio V, Templin M, Abouzaid S. Prevalence and risk of polypharmacy among the elderly in an outpatient setting: a retrospective cohort study in the Emilia-Romagna region, Italy. Drugs Aging. 2010 Dec 1; 27(12):1019-28.
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Bain KT, Holmes HM, Beers MH, Maio V, Handler SM, Pauker SG. Discontinuing medications: a novel approach for revising the prescribing stage of the medication-use process. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2008 Oct; 56(10):1946-52.
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Hajjar ER, Cafiero AC, Hanlon JT. Polypharmacy in elderly patients. Am J Geriatr Pharmacother. 2007 Dec; 5(4):345-51.
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Rossi MI, Young A, Maher R, Rodriguez KL, Appelt CJ, Perera S, Hajjar ER, Hanlon JT. Polypharmacy and health beliefs in older outpatients. Am J Geriatr Pharmacother. 2007 Dec; 5(4):317-23.
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Hajjar ER, Hanlon JT, Sloane RJ, Lindblad CI, Pieper CF, Ruby CM, Branch LC, Schmader KE. Unnecessary drug use in frail older people at hospital discharge. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2005 Sep; 53(9):1518-23.
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Hajjar ER, Hanlon JT, Artz MB, Lindblad CI, Pieper CF, Sloane RJ, Ruby CM, Schmader KE. Adverse drug reaction risk factors in older outpatients. Am J Geriatr Pharmacother. 2003 Dec; 1(2):82-9.