New Findings from National Taiwan University in the Area of Healthcare Management Reported (Combined Effects of Frailty and Polypharmacy on Health Outcomes in Older Adults: Frailty Outweighs Polypharmacy)

2020 SEP 11 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Hospital & Nursing Home Daily -- A new study on Health and Medicine - Healthcare Management is now available. According to news originating from Taipei, Taiwan, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “Existing studies cannot evaluate the time-varying properties of frailty and polypharmacy despite raising concerns about their combined effects in older individuals. This study investigated the longitudinal association between different combined statuses of frailty and polypharmacy on risks of adverse outcomes. Retrospective cohort study.”

Funders for this research include Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan, Ministry of Science and Technology, National Health Research Institutes, National Health Insurance Association.

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from National Taiwan University, “Subjects aged between 65 and 100 years (n=100,000) were identified from Taiwan’s National Health Insurance Research Database. Frailty was categorized into fit, mild, moderate, and severe frailty based on the multimorbidity frailty index. Concomitant use of 5 to 9 and 10 chronic medications was considered polypharmacy and excessive polypharmacy. We used generalized estimating equation models to examine the association among 12 groups of combined effects of frailty and polypharmacy and risks of all-cause mortality, all-cause hospitalization, and unplanned hospitalization. Age-stratified analyses were conducted for those aged 65 to 74, 75 to 84, and 85+ years. Compared with fit without polypharmacy, severe frailty with excess polypharmacy was associated with increased risks of adverse outcomes, particularly unplanned hospitalization (adjusted relative risk (aRR): 20.01 [95% confidence interval (CI)] 19.30-20.75). However, the combined effects varied in distinct groups. Within each polypharmacy category, there were dose-response associations between frailty category and adverse outcomes. For instance, within the polypharmacy group, the aRRs of mortality were 1.58 (1.52-1.64), 2.70 (2.60-2.80), 4.62 (4.44-4.82), and 6.81 (6.50-7.13) for the fit and mild, moderate, and severe frailty groups, respectively. By contrast, within each frailty category, the dose-response association between polypharmacy and adverse outcomes was limited to fit and mildly frail people. Age-stratified analyses yielded similar results. Both frailty and polypharmacy modified the risks of mortality and hospital admissions in older people, but the combined effects varied in distinct groups.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “This study thus highlights the potential to optimize care of older people by capturing the dynamic and combined changes related to frailty and polypharmacy.”

For more information on this research see: Combined Effects of Frailty and Polypharmacy on Health Outcomes in Older Adults: Frailty Outweighs Polypharmacy. Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, 2020;():. (Elsevier - www.elsevier.com; Journal of the American Medical Directors Association - http://www.journals.elsevier.com/journal-of-the-american-medical-directors-association/)

The news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained from Shih-Tsung Huang, Graduate Institute of Clinical Pharmacy, College of Medicine, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan. Additional authors for this research include Yan-Zuo Chen, Yu-Wen Wen, Liang-Kung Chen and Fei-Yuan Hsiao.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jamda.2020.07.019. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

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