Global prevalence, trends, and dose-response associations of polypharmacy in older adults. | ScholarDeck

Paper

Global prevalence, trends, and dose-response associations of polypharmacy in older adults.

New research · Internal Medicine

The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences · 2w

Meta-analysisThe journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences· Jul 2026

Global prevalence, trends, and dose-response associations of polypharmacy in older adults.

Fangyuan Tian, Zhaoyan Chen, Ying Zhang … Zhen Zhou

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GeriatricsMeta-analysisClinical practiceQ1IF 4.6

Polypharmacy affects roughly half of older adults worldwide

Global prevalence, trends, and dose-response associations of polypharmacy in older adults.

Fangyuan Tian … Zhen Zhou

The journals of gerontology · Jul 2026

Background

Polypharmacy is common in older adults with comorbidities.

Purpose

This study aims to estimate its global prevalence, temporal trends, and dose-response associations with adverse health outcomes.

Results

polypharmacy is now typical, not the exception, among older adults

HR by subgroup · 95% CI

More results

Random-effects meta-analyses were used to pool prevalence estimates of polypharmacy based on mixed thresholds and relative risks.

It demonstrated a significant increasing temporal trend in polypharmacy prevalence over calendar years.

More results

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 < .001), emergency (HR: 1.02, 95% CI: 1.02-1.03, p < .001), and hospital admission (HR: 1.04, 95% CI: 1.02-1.07, p < .001).