Implications of Polypharmacy to Clinical Practice for Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury: A Population-Based Approach in British Columbia, Canada.

The main objective of this study is to measure polypharmacy among traumatic spinal cord injury patients over a 20-year period and evaluate associated injury characteristics and clinical factors.

All community-dispensed medications were identified during the first 365 days after discharge.

The cumulative polypharmacy method was utilized (average of ≥5 medications over four quarters of the year).

Factors associated with polypharmacy were age 65 and older (OR = 3.1, p < 0.001), female (OR = 1.5, p < 0.001), and a higher pre-existing comorbidity burden (OR = 3.8, p = 0.030).