Polypharmacy and patterns of prescription medication use among cancer survivors.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The population of cancer survivors is rapidly growing in the United States. Long-term and late effects of cancer, combined with the ongoing management of other chronic conditions, make survivors particularly vulnerable to polypharmacy and its adverse effects. In the current study, the authors examined patterns of prescription medication use and polypharmacy in a population-based sample of cancer survivors.

Methods

Using data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS), the authors matched cancer survivors (5216 survivors) with noncancer controls (19,588 controls) by age, sex, and survey year. Polypharmacy was defined as ≥5 unique medications. The authors estimated the percentage of respondents prescribed medications within therapeutic classes and total prescr

SUBMITTER: Murphy CC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6147245 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature