From: What is polypharmacy? A systematic review of definitions
Term | Definition | Number of studies | References |
---|---|---|---|
Polypharmacy | Patients visiting multiple pharmacies to obtain medications | 1 | [112] |
Coprescribing multiple medications | 1 | [113] | |
Simultaneous and long term use of different drugs by the same individual | 1 | [77] | |
Polypharmacy definition ranges from the use of a large number of medications, to the use of potentially inappropriate medications, medication underuse and medication duplication | 1 | [114] | |
Potentially inappropriate medications | 2 | ||
Use of multiple medications concurrently and the use of additional medications to correct adverse effects | 1 | [115] | |
Use of medications which are not clinically indicated | 1 | [116] | |
More drugs being prescribed or taken than are clinically appropriate in the context of a patient’s comorbidities | 1 | [12] | |
Appropriate polypharmacy | Optimisation of medications for patients with complex and/or multiple conditions where medicine usage agrees with best evidence | 1 | [117] |
Rational polypharmacy and indiscriminate prescribing | Rational polypharmacy recognizes legitimate prescribing and indiscriminate prescribing suggests inappropriate prescribing (the terms “legitimate prescribing” and “inappropriate prescribing” were not explained) | 1 | [118] |
Pseudopolypharmacy | Patients being recorded as taking more medications than they are actually taking | 1 | [119] |