Polypharmacy, Physical and Nutritional Status, and Depression in the Elderly: Do Polypharmacy Deserve Some Credits in These Problems?

ABSTRACT

Background: To investigate the association of polypharmacy with physical function, nutritional status, and depression in the elderly.

Method: The study included 675 people aged over 65 years from 8 centers in various geographical regions. The polypharmacy status was categorized as non-polypharmacy (0–4 drugs), polypharmacy (≥5 drugs). The subjects’ physical function was assessed based on their “physical activity levels, Holden ambulation scores, gait speeds, and hand grip strengths”; their nutritional status based on the “Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA)”; and their psychological status based on the “Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale -CES-D”.

Results: The presence of polypharmacy in this population was found to be 30% (n = 203). A statistically significant difference was found between the groups on the level of physical activity, Holden ambulation score, and nutrition status (p < .05). There was a statistically significant difference between the groups also on hand grip strength, MNA score, Charlson score (p < .05).

Conclusion: Polypharmacy was observed to have a significant association with physical function, nutrition, and depression in the elderly aged ≥ 65 years.

KEYWORDS:

• Polypharmacy
• aged
• functional status
• physical capacity
• nutrition
• depression

Acknowledgments

We thank Dr Goksel Tanigor for his help in the revision of this research paper, and Mr Timur Kose, for his contributions to the statistical analysis of the research.

Disclosure Statement

On behalf of all authors, the corresponding author states that there is no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

We have no financial support for this research.