Global prevalence, trends, and dose-response associations of polypharmacy in older adults
Clicks: 10
ID: 320133
2026
Article Quality & Performance Metrics
Overall Quality
Not rated
Combines reader engagement with the AI quality analysis. This
article has not been analysed, so there is no overall score —
reader engagement is measured and shown alongside.
Reader Engagement
Emerging Content
2.7
/100
10 views
5 readers
AI Quality Assessment
Not analyzed
Readership in this journal
EmergingRanked #55 of 143 articles by views in the journals of gerontology series a, biological sciences and medical sciences
Most read
Least read
Bar heights use a square-root scale. Only the 120 most-read articles are drawn; the journal has 143 in total.
Mint this article as an NFT
Not yet mintedCreate a permanent, verifiable on-chain record of this article on the Scimatic Network. The NFT is held in your Journament account, and you can withdraw it to your own wallet at any time.
5
SUSD
one-off · no wallet required
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Polypharmacy is common in older adults with comorbidities. This study aims to estimate its global prevalence, temporal trends, and dose-response associations with adverse health outcomes. METHODS: PubMed, Embase, The Cochrane Library, Web of Science and Scopus were searched from inception to June 30, 2025. Random-effects meta-analyses were used to pool prevalence estimates of polypharmacy based on mixed thresholds and relative risks. Study quality was assessed using Hoy's method. Hazard ratios (HRs) from individual studies were synthesised using random-effects dose-response meta-analysis in studies that provided sufficient quantitative exposure information. RESULTS: A total of 545 studies, providing 565 prevalence estimates, were included, comprising 16,620,414 older adults from 56 countries worldwide. The pooled global prevalence of polypharmacy was 50.4% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 48.2-52.7%; 95% prediction interval: 6.8-93.5%). It demonstrated a significant increasing temporal trend in polypharmacy prevalence over calendar years. Compared with non-polypharmacy, polypharmacy was associated with a significantly higher risk of multiple adverse outcomes. Dose-response meta-analyses showed a monotonic increase in risk with each additional medication for mortality (HR: 1.05, 95%CI: 1.03-1.06, P＜0.001), emergency (HR: 1.02, 95%CI: 1.02-1.03, P＜0.001), and hospital admission (HR: 1.04, 95%CI: 1.02-1.07, P＜0.001). Outcome-specific thresholds ranged from 4.55 to 5.46 medications. A pooled estimate of approximately five medications was obtained as a descriptive summary across outcomes. CONCLUSION: Polypharmacy affects approximately half of older adults worldwide and has increased steadily over time. It is associated with an increased risk of multiple adverse health outcomes, with risks increasing progressively as medication burden rises.
| Reference Key |
openalex_W7167645702
Use this key to autocite in the manuscript while using
SciMatic Manuscript Manager or Thesis Manager
|
|---|---|
| Authors | Fangyuan Tian, Zhaoyan Chen, Yu Zhang, Hongyu Cai, Xuehua Wan, F X Zhou, Zhen Zhou |
| Journal | the journals of gerontology series a, biological sciences and medical sciences |
| Year | 2026 |
| DOI |
10.1093/gerona/glag176
|
| URL | |
| Keywords | Keywords not found |
Citations
No citations found. To add a citation, contact the admin at info@scimatic.org
Comments
No comments yet. Be the first to comment on this article.