Patient with Polypharmacy

Abstract

Polypharmacy is defined as the concurrent use of multiple drugs to treat a single condition or the concurrent use of multiple drugs by a single patient for one or more conditions. Polypharmacy can be divided into two distinct groups—appropriate polypharmacy and problematic polypharmacy. It may predispose patients to greater risks for drug interactions and adverse effects related to co-morbidities. Despite the risks of polypharmacy, there may be benefits. Using more than one analgesic with different mechanisms of action (called multimodal analgesia) may allow lower doses of each, potentially reducing adverse effects and improving efficacy.