The co-occurrence of multimorbidity and polypharmacy among middle-aged and older adults in Canada: A cross-sectional study using the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) and the Canadian Primary Care Sentinel Surveillance Network (CPCSSN).
<h4>Background</h4>There is an increasing prevalence of multiple conditions (multimorbidity) and multiple medications (polypharmacy) across many populations. Previous literature has focused on the prevalence and impact of these health states separately, but there is a need to better unde...
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Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2025-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0312873 |
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| author | Kathryn Nicholson Jennifer Salerno Sayem Borhan Benoit Cossette Dale Guenter Meredith Vanstone John Queenan Michelle Greiver Michelle Howard Amanda L Terry Tyler Williamson Lauren E Griffith Martin Fortin Saverio Stranges Dee Mangin |
| author_facet | Kathryn Nicholson Jennifer Salerno Sayem Borhan Benoit Cossette Dale Guenter Meredith Vanstone John Queenan Michelle Greiver Michelle Howard Amanda L Terry Tyler Williamson Lauren E Griffith Martin Fortin Saverio Stranges Dee Mangin |
| author_sort | Kathryn Nicholson |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | <h4>Background</h4>There is an increasing prevalence of multiple conditions (multimorbidity) and multiple medications (polypharmacy) across many populations. Previous literature has focused on the prevalence and impact of these health states separately, but there is a need to better understand their co-occurrence.<h4>Methods and findings</h4>This study reported on multimorbidity and polypharmacy among middle-aged and older adults in two national datasets: the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) and the Canadian Primary Care Sentinel Surveillance Network (CPCSSN). Using consistent methodology, we conducted a cross-sectional analysis of CLSA participants and CPCSSN patients aged 45 to 85 years as of 2015. When multimorbidity was defined as two or more conditions, the prevalence was 66.7% and 52.0% in the CLSA and CPCSSN cohorts, respectively. The prevalence of polypharmacy was 14.9% in the CLSA cohort and 22.6% in the CPCSSN cohort when defined as five or more medications. Using the same cut-points, the co-occurrence of multimorbidity and polypharmacy was similar between the two cohorts (CLSA: 14.3%; CPCSSN: 13.5%). Approximately 20% of older adults (65 to 85 years) were living with both multimorbidity and polypharmacy (CLSA: 21.4%; CPCSSN: 18.3%), as compared to almost 10% of middle-aged adults (45 to 64 years) living with this co-occurrence (CLSA: 9.2%; CPCSSN: 9.9%). Across both cohorts and age groups, females had consistently higher estimates of multimorbidity, polypharmacy and the co-occurrence of multimorbidity and polypharmacy.<h4>Conclusions</h4>This study found that multimorbidity and polypharmacy are not interchangeable in understanding population health needs. Approximately one in five older adults in the CLSA and CPCSSN cohorts were living with both multimorbidity and polypharmacy, double the proportion in the younger cohorts. This has implications for future research, as well as health policy and clinical practice, that aim to reduce the occurrence and impact of multimorbidity and unnecessary polypharmacy to enhance the well-being of aging populations. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-bc29b8a88bc2400ea7a55e39560c3762 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj-art-bc29b8a88bc2400ea7a55e39560c37622025-02-05T05:31:25ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032025-01-01201e031287310.1371/journal.pone.0312873The co-occurrence of multimorbidity and polypharmacy among middle-aged and older adults in Canada: A cross-sectional study using the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) and the Canadian Primary Care Sentinel Surveillance Network (CPCSSN).Kathryn NicholsonJennifer SalernoSayem BorhanBenoit CossetteDale GuenterMeredith VanstoneJohn QueenanMichelle GreiverMichelle HowardAmanda L TerryTyler WilliamsonLauren E GriffithMartin FortinSaverio StrangesDee Mangin<h4>Background</h4>There is an increasing prevalence of multiple conditions (multimorbidity) and multiple medications (polypharmacy) across many populations. Previous literature has focused on the prevalence and impact of these health states separately, but there is a need to better understand their co-occurrence.<h4>Methods and findings</h4>This study reported on multimorbidity and polypharmacy among middle-aged and older adults in two national datasets: the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) and the Canadian Primary Care Sentinel Surveillance Network (CPCSSN). Using consistent methodology, we conducted a cross-sectional analysis of CLSA participants and CPCSSN patients aged 45 to 85 years as of 2015. When multimorbidity was defined as two or more conditions, the prevalence was 66.7% and 52.0% in the CLSA and CPCSSN cohorts, respectively. The prevalence of polypharmacy was 14.9% in the CLSA cohort and 22.6% in the CPCSSN cohort when defined as five or more medications. Using the same cut-points, the co-occurrence of multimorbidity and polypharmacy was similar between the two cohorts (CLSA: 14.3%; CPCSSN: 13.5%). Approximately 20% of older adults (65 to 85 years) were living with both multimorbidity and polypharmacy (CLSA: 21.4%; CPCSSN: 18.3%), as compared to almost 10% of middle-aged adults (45 to 64 years) living with this co-occurrence (CLSA: 9.2%; CPCSSN: 9.9%). Across both cohorts and age groups, females had consistently higher estimates of multimorbidity, polypharmacy and the co-occurrence of multimorbidity and polypharmacy.<h4>Conclusions</h4>This study found that multimorbidity and polypharmacy are not interchangeable in understanding population health needs. Approximately one in five older adults in the CLSA and CPCSSN cohorts were living with both multimorbidity and polypharmacy, double the proportion in the younger cohorts. This has implications for future research, as well as health policy and clinical practice, that aim to reduce the occurrence and impact of multimorbidity and unnecessary polypharmacy to enhance the well-being of aging populations.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0312873 |
| spellingShingle | Kathryn Nicholson Jennifer Salerno Sayem Borhan Benoit Cossette Dale Guenter Meredith Vanstone John Queenan Michelle Greiver Michelle Howard Amanda L Terry Tyler Williamson Lauren E Griffith Martin Fortin Saverio Stranges Dee Mangin The co-occurrence of multimorbidity and polypharmacy among middle-aged and older adults in Canada: A cross-sectional study using the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) and the Canadian Primary Care Sentinel Surveillance Network (CPCSSN). PLoS ONE |
| title | The co-occurrence of multimorbidity and polypharmacy among middle-aged and older adults in Canada: A cross-sectional study using the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) and the Canadian Primary Care Sentinel Surveillance Network (CPCSSN). |
| title_full | The co-occurrence of multimorbidity and polypharmacy among middle-aged and older adults in Canada: A cross-sectional study using the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) and the Canadian Primary Care Sentinel Surveillance Network (CPCSSN). |
| title_fullStr | The co-occurrence of multimorbidity and polypharmacy among middle-aged and older adults in Canada: A cross-sectional study using the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) and the Canadian Primary Care Sentinel Surveillance Network (CPCSSN). |
| title_full_unstemmed | The co-occurrence of multimorbidity and polypharmacy among middle-aged and older adults in Canada: A cross-sectional study using the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) and the Canadian Primary Care Sentinel Surveillance Network (CPCSSN). |
| title_short | The co-occurrence of multimorbidity and polypharmacy among middle-aged and older adults in Canada: A cross-sectional study using the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA) and the Canadian Primary Care Sentinel Surveillance Network (CPCSSN). |
| title_sort | co occurrence of multimorbidity and polypharmacy among middle aged and older adults in canada a cross sectional study using the canadian longitudinal study on aging clsa and the canadian primary care sentinel surveillance network cpcssn |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0312873 |
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cooccurrenceofmultimorbidityandpolypharmacyamongmiddleagedandolderadultsincanadaacrosssectionalstudyusingthecanadianlongitudinalstudyonagingclsaandthecanadianprimarycaresentinelsurveillancenetworkcpcssn AT tylerwilliamson cooccurrenceofmultimorbidityandpolypharmacyamongmiddleagedandolderadultsincanadaacrosssectionalstudyusingthecanadianlongitudinalstudyonagingclsaandthecanadianprimarycaresentinelsurveillancenetworkcpcssn AT laurenegriffith cooccurrenceofmultimorbidityandpolypharmacyamongmiddleagedandolderadultsincanadaacrosssectionalstudyusingthecanadianlongitudinalstudyonagingclsaandthecanadianprimarycaresentinelsurveillancenetworkcpcssn AT martinfortin cooccurrenceofmultimorbidityandpolypharmacyamongmiddleagedandolderadultsincanadaacrosssectionalstudyusingthecanadianlongitudinalstudyonagingclsaandthecanadianprimarycaresentinelsurveillancenetworkcpcssn AT saveriostranges 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