Definition of polypharmacy in US English:
polypharmacy
nounPlural polypharmacies ˌpälēˈfärməsēˌpälēˈfärməsē
1The simultaneous use of multiple drugs to treat a single ailment or condition.
Example sentencesExamples
- Optimally use single-drug therapy because polypharmacy impairs drug effectiveness and side effects accumulate.
- The pitfalls of aggressive treatment often include polypharmacy with multiple medication side effects and numerous adjunctive medications complicating the clinical picture.
- The article by Leo Bastiaens, M.D., focuses on the well-known problem of polypharmacy in the long-term care of treatment-resistant children.
- Multiple drug therapy or polypharmacy is quite common, with the consequence of adverse drug interactions, the risk of which rises exponentially with the number of drugs given simultaneously and with concurrent diseases.
- However, it may be that the vast herbal pharmacopia may be best utilized in the traditional method of polypharmacy, where many ingredients are combined to reduce and eliminate side effects while balancing all the systems of the body.
- 1.1 The simultaneous use of multiple drugs by a single patient, for one or more conditions.
Example sentencesExamples
- He mentions polypharmacy as a factor contributing to falls but not that reducing polypharmacy is an effective service that should be implemented.
- Special geriatric topics such as polypharmacy and the pharmacodynamic changes that occur with ageing were discussed at many but not all schools.
- The risk of falling rose with the number of drugs taken and the number of chronic diseases each woman had, but the association was stronger for multiple pathology than for polypharmacy and remained in the fully adjusted analyses.
- Arguably, neurologists may do a great job of looking after the patient's nervous system but may be found lacking when dealing with associated illnesses such as diabetes and hypertension and the resulting polypharmacy.
- Prescribing potentially inappropriate medications occurs in various health care settings, and older patients are especially at risk of adverse effects from polypharmacy.