"Polypharmacy" is a descriptor in the National Library of Medicine's controlled vocabulary thesaurus,
MeSH (Medical Subject Headings). Descriptors are arranged in a hierarchical structure,
which enables searching at various levels of specificity.
The use of multiple drugs administered to the same patient, most commonly seen in elderly patients. It includes also the administration of excessive medication. Since in the United States most drugs are dispensed as single-agent formulations, polypharmacy, though using many drugs administered to the same patient, must be differentiated from DRUG COMBINATIONS, single preparations containing two or more drugs as a fixed dose, and from DRUG THERAPY, COMBINATION, two or more drugs administered separately for a combined effect. (From Segen, Dictionary of Modern Medicine, 1992)
| Descriptor ID |
D019338
|
| MeSH Number(s) |
E02.319.698
|
| Concept/Terms |
|
Below are MeSH descriptors whose meaning is more general than "Polypharmacy".
Below are MeSH descriptors whose meaning is more specific than "Polypharmacy".
This graph shows the total number of publications written about "Polypharmacy" by people in this website by year, and whether "Polypharmacy" was a major or minor topic of these publications.
To see the data from this visualization as text,
click here.
| Year | Major Topic | Minor Topic | Total |
|---|
| 2005 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 2007 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 2011 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 2015 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 2016 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2017 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 2018 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 2019 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| 2020 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 2021 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 2022 | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| 2023 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 2024 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 2025 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 2026 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
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Below are the most recent publications written about "Polypharmacy" by people in Profiles.
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Hyperpolypharmacy and readmission risk among Medicare beneficiaries: the role of postdischarge care. Am J Manag Care. 2026 Mar 01; 32(3):e71-e82.
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Estimating risk of reported versus theoretical drug-drug interactions in headaches medicine: an exhaustive comparison between DrugBank and FAERS database for abortive and preventive combinations. J Oral Facial Pain Headache. 2025 Dec; 39(4):165-172.
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An innovative approach to aligning healthcare with what matters most to patients: A hybrid type 1 trial protocol of patient priorities care for older adults with multiple chronic conditions. Contemp Clin Trials. 2024 Aug; 143:107613.
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Deprescribing statins, considerations for informed decision making. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2023 08; 71(8):2685-2689.
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Polypharmacy and medical intensive care unit (MICU) admission and 10-year all-cause mortality risk among hospitalized patients with and without HIV. PLoS One. 2022; 17(10):e0276769.
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Polypharmacy and Multimorbidity in the Urogynecology Population and Their Effect on Pelvic Floor Symptoms. Urogynecology (Phila). 2023 01 01; 29(1):80-87.
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Predictive Risk Model for Serious Falls Among Older Persons Living With HIV. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. 2022 10 01; 91(2):168-174.
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Healthcare Expenditure Associated With Polypharmacy in Older Adults With Cardiovascular Diseases. Am J Cardiol. 2022 04 15; 169:156-158.
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Preventing Home Medication Administration Errors. Pediatrics. 2021 12 01; 148(6).
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Polypharmacy among COVID-19 patients: A systematic review. J Am Pharm Assoc (2003). 2021 Sep-Oct; 61(5):e14-e25.