Associations Between Polypharmacy, Symptom Burden, and Quality of Life in Patients with Advanced, Life-Limiting Illness.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:Polypharmacy may be particularly burdensome near the end of life, as patients "accumulate" medications to treat and prevent multiple diseases. OBJECTIVE:To evaluate associations between polypharmacy, symptom burden, and quality of life (QOL) in patients with advanced, life-limiting illness (clinician-estimated, 1 month-1 year). DESIGN:Secondary analysis of baseline data from a trial of statin discontinuation. PARTICIPANTS:Adults with advanced, life-limiting illness. MAIN MEASURES:Polypharmacy was assessed by summing the number of non-statin medications taken regularly or as needed. Symptom burden was assessed using the Edmonton Symptom Assessment Scale (range 0-90; higher scores indicating greater symptom burden) and QOL was assessed using the McGill QOL Questionnaire (range 0-1

SUBMITTER: Schenker Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6445911 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature