People aged _>65 years are one of the most rapidly
growing age groups in the United States. In 2005,
there were -27 million adults in this age group, with
the number of women outweighing men. 1 Many older
adults have multiple medical conditions, such as hypertension,
arthritis, heart disease, cancer, and diabetes
mellitus, which require multiple medications for proper
treatment. 1,2 The use of multiple medications is often
referred to as polypharmacy, but a standard definition
is not used. A second and perhaps more important
definition is the administration of more medications
than are clinically indicated, representing unnecessary
drug use. Unfortunately, using multiple medications
may cause problems such as the increased risk of inappropriate
use of medications (including drug-drug interactions
and duplication of therapy), nonadherence,
and adverse effects.
Thc objective of this review was to provide a description
of observational studics cxamining thc cpidcmiology
of polypharmacy and to review randomized controlled
studies that have been published in the past 2 decades
dcsigncd to rcducc polypharmacy in oldcr adults.