TY - JOUR
T1 - Trends of polypharmacy among older people in Asia, Australia and the United Kingdom: a multinational population-based study
AU - Lee, Hyesung
AU - Baek, Yeon-Hee
AU - Kim, Ju Hwan
AU - Liao, Tzu-Chi
AU - Lau, Wallis C. Y.
AU - Man, Kenneth K. C.
AU - Qin, Xiwen
AU - Wood, Stephen
AU - Ilomäki, Jenni
AU - Bell, J. Simon
AU - Lai, Edward Chia-Cheng
AU - Leung, Miriam T. Y.
AU - Chan, Adrienne Y. L.
AU - Chui, Celine S. L.
AU - Wong, Ian C. K.
AU - Shin, Ju-Young
PY - 2023/2
Y1 - 2023/2
N2 - BACKGROUND: Polypharmacy among older people represents a global challenge due to its association with adverse drug events. The reported prevalence of polypharmacy varies widely across countries, and is particularly high in Asian countries. However, there is no multinational study using standardised measurements exploring variations in prescribing trends.OBJECTIVE: To compare polypharmacy trends in older people in Asia, Australia and the United Kingdom.DESIGN: Multinational, retrospective, time-trend, observational study using a common study protocol.SETTING: Outpatient and community settings.SUBJECTS: All individuals aged ≥ 65 years between 2013 and 2016.METHODS: We defined polypharmacy as the concomitant use of ≥5 medications for ≥45 days per year. We estimated the annual prevalence of polypharmacy and calculated average annual percentage change (AAPC) to assess the time trends.RESULTS: A total of 1.62 million individuals were included in this study. The highest prevalence of polypharmacy was observed in Hong Kong (46.4%), followed by Taiwan (38.8%), South Korea (32.0%), the United Kingdom (23.5%) and Australia (20.1%) in 2016. For the time trend, the Asian region showed a steady increase, particularly in Hong Kong and South Korea (AAPC: Hong Kong, 2.7%; South Korea, 1.8%; Taiwan, 1.0%). However, Australia and the United Kingdom showed a decreasing trend (Australia, -4.9%; the United Kingdom, -1.1%).CONCLUSIONS: Polypharmacy prevalence in older people was higher in Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea, with an increasing trend over time, compared with Australia and the United Kingdom. Our findings underline the necessity to monitor polypharmacy among older people in Asia by conducting government-level interventions and introducing medicine-optimisation strategies.
AB - BACKGROUND: Polypharmacy among older people represents a global challenge due to its association with adverse drug events. The reported prevalence of polypharmacy varies widely across countries, and is particularly high in Asian countries. However, there is no multinational study using standardised measurements exploring variations in prescribing trends.OBJECTIVE: To compare polypharmacy trends in older people in Asia, Australia and the United Kingdom.DESIGN: Multinational, retrospective, time-trend, observational study using a common study protocol.SETTING: Outpatient and community settings.SUBJECTS: All individuals aged ≥ 65 years between 2013 and 2016.METHODS: We defined polypharmacy as the concomitant use of ≥5 medications for ≥45 days per year. We estimated the annual prevalence of polypharmacy and calculated average annual percentage change (AAPC) to assess the time trends.RESULTS: A total of 1.62 million individuals were included in this study. The highest prevalence of polypharmacy was observed in Hong Kong (46.4%), followed by Taiwan (38.8%), South Korea (32.0%), the United Kingdom (23.5%) and Australia (20.1%) in 2016. For the time trend, the Asian region showed a steady increase, particularly in Hong Kong and South Korea (AAPC: Hong Kong, 2.7%; South Korea, 1.8%; Taiwan, 1.0%). However, Australia and the United Kingdom showed a decreasing trend (Australia, -4.9%; the United Kingdom, -1.1%).CONCLUSIONS: Polypharmacy prevalence in older people was higher in Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea, with an increasing trend over time, compared with Australia and the United Kingdom. Our findings underline the necessity to monitor polypharmacy among older people in Asia by conducting government-level interventions and introducing medicine-optimisation strategies.
KW - Humans
KW - Aged
KW - Retrospective Studies
KW - Polypharmacy
KW - Hong Kong/epidemiology
KW - Republic of Korea/epidemiology
KW - Taiwan
UR - https://academic.oup.com/ageing/article/52/2/afad014/7049629
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-85148772713&partnerID=MN8TOARS
U2 - 10.1093/ageing/afad014
DO - 10.1093/ageing/afad014
M3 - Article
C2 - 36821644
SN - 0002-0729
VL - 52
JO - Age and Ageing
JF - Age and Ageing
IS - 2
M1 - afad014
ER -