Abstract
AimPolypharmacy is becoming a global health problem. The aims of this study were to evaluate the temporal trends in the prevalence of polypharmacy in Sweden and to explore polypharmacy disparities by age, gender, education, and immigration status.MethodsPolypharmacy and excessive polypharmacy were evaluated using data extracted from the Swedish Prescribed Drug Register between 2006 and 2014. Polypharmacy was defined as being exposed to five or more drugs and excessive polypharmacy was defined as being exposed to 10 or more drugs during 1 month respectively. Average annual percent change (AAPC) was calculated using Joinpoint Statistical Software.ResultsThe prevalence of polypharmacy increased from 16.9% in 2006 to 19.0% in 2014 with an AAPC of 1.3; the prevalence of excess polypharmacy increased from 3.8% in 2006 to 5.1% in 2014 with an AAPC of 3.4. The prevalence of polypharmacy and excessive polypharmacy increased dramatically with age and peaked up to 79.6% and 36.4% in individuals aged 90 and above respectively. Females and individuals with lower education level were associated with a higher rate of polypharmacy and excessive polypharmacy. Immigrants from Middle-Eastern countries had the highest rate of polypharmacy and excessive polypharmacy, whereas individuals from Western Europe countries had the lowest rate.ConclusionThe prevalence of polypharmacy has increased gradually in Sweden during the past decade. Individuals with older age, female sex, or lower education have a higher rate of polypharmacy and excessive polypharmacy. Immigrants from Middle-Eastern countries showed a higher rate of polypharmacy.
Highlights
During recent decades, life expectancy for the world's population has increased dramatically, especially for the population in the developed countries (Mathers et al, 2015), when the leading causes of death shifted from infectious and acute diseases to non-communicable and chronic diseases (Collaborators, 2017)
In this study using Swedish data, we aimed to describe the temporal trend of polypharmacy using the entire Swedish population and to explore the associations of polypharmacy with gender, education, and immigration status
The rate of polypharmacy was 16.9% in 2006; it increased to 19.0% in 2014 with a significant Annual Percent Change (AAPC) of 1.3
Summary
Life expectancy for the world's population has increased dramatically, especially for the population in the developed countries (Mathers et al, 2015), when the leading causes of death shifted from infectious and acute diseases to non-communicable and chronic diseases (Collaborators, 2017). The prevalence of multimorbidity as well as polypharmacy, i.e. individuals using different medications simultaneously, has increased gradually and become a global health problem (Lipska et al, 2016). An updated assessment on the prevalence and temporal trend of multiple medications is highly needed. It is still largely unknown whether polypharmacy might be associated with common demographic factors, such as gender, education, and immigration status. In this study using Swedish data, we aimed to describe the temporal trend of polypharmacy using the entire Swedish population and to explore the associations of polypharmacy with gender, education, and immigration status
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