Hospital Setting
Few studies have examined the issue of polypharmacy in the hospitalized elders. A study by
Hajjar and colleagues looked at both definitions of polypharmacy at hospital discharge [6].
Among 384 patients studied, it was reported that 41.4 % were on at least 5-8 medications,
and 37.2% were on 9 or more. Overall 58.6% of patients took one or more unnecessary
prescribed drug