Polypharmacy and Potentially Inappropriate Medication Use among Older Adults with Cancer Undergoing Chemotherapy: Impact on Chemotherapy-Related Toxicity and Hospitalization During Treatment

摘要

Polypharmacy and potentially inappropriate medication (PIM) use are understudied among older adults with cancer undergoing chemotherapy. The current study’s aims were to evaluate in this population: 1) the prevalence of polypharmacy and PIM use; and 2) the association between these and chemotherapy-related adverse events.MethodsThis was a secondary analysis of prospectively collected data of adults age ≥65 years with cancer undergoing chemotherapy. Measures included: the number of daily medications (i.e, polypharmacy); PIM use based on 3 indices [Beers, Zhan, and Drugs to Avoid in the Elderly (DAE) criteria], as well as use of 6 “high-risk” medication classes for adverse drug events (i.e., anticoagulants, antiplatelet agents, opioids, insulin, oral hypoglycemics and antiarrhythmics). Using multivariate logistic regression, the relations were evaluated between these criteria and 1) Grade 3-5 chemotherapy-related toxicity; and 2) hospitalization during chemotherapy.