Abstract
Polypharmacy is a highly prevalent problem in older persons, and is challenging to
assess and improve due to variations in definitions of the problem and the heterogeneous
methods of medication review and reduction. The purpose of this review is to summarize
evidence regarding the prevalence and impact of polypharmacy in geriatric oncology
patients and to provide recommendations for assessment and management. Polypharmacy
has somewhat variably been incorporated into geriatric assessment studies in geriatric
oncology, and polypharmacy has not been consistently evaluated as a predictor of negative
outcomes in patients with cancer. Once screened, interventions for polypharmacy are
even more uncertain. There is a great need to create standardized interventions to
improve polypharmacy in geriatrics, and particularly in geriatric oncology. The process
of deprescribing is aimed at reducing medications for which real or potential harm
outweighs benefit, and there are numerous methods to determine which medications are
candidates for deprescribing. However, deprescribing approaches have not been evaluated
in older patients with cancer. Ultimately, methods to identify polypharmacy will need
to be clearly defined and validated, and interventions to improve medication use will
need to be based on clearly defined and standardized methods.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: August 03, 2016
Accepted:
July 18,
2016
Received in revised form:
April 22,
2016
Received:
January 16,
2016
Identification
Copyright
© 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
