An official website of the United States government
Polypharmacy and Health-Related Quality of Life/Psychological Distress Among Patients With Chronic Disease
ORIGINAL RESEARCH — Volume 19 — August 18, 2022
PEER REVIEWED
Figure 1.
Percentage of patients reporting problems on the 5 EQ-5D-5L dimensions, by whether patient reported polypharmacy, defined in study as use of ≥5 medications. P values were determined by logistic regression and were adjusted for age, sex, educational attainment, and multimorbidity; significance level set at <.05. Abbreviation: EQ-5D-5L, EuroQol-5 Dimension-5 Level questionnaire.
| Level of problems | Mobility (P= .01) | Self-care (P= .65) | Usual activities (P= .02) | Pain/discomfort (P= .29) | Anxiety/depression (P= .08) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No polypharmacy | Polypharmacy | No polypharmacy | Polypharmacy | No polypharmacy | Polypharmacy | No polypharmacy | Polypharmacy | No polypharmacy | Polypharmacy | |
| No problems | 52.0 | 34.6 | 76.0 | 70.3 | 38.0 | 30.1 | 23.1 | 16.0 | 54.8 | 48.0 |
| Slight problems | 23.5 | 21.2 | 15.8 | 15.2 | 24.4 | 22.7 | 27.1 | 20.8 | 26.2 | 26.4 |
| Moderate problems | 16.7 | 28.6 | 5.4 | 9.3 | 21.7 | 26.4 | 27.6 | 28.3 | 12.7 | 17.1 |
| Severe problems | 6.3 | 11.9 | 1.4 | 3.7 | 12.7 | 16.0 | 19.9 | 30.5 | 5.0 | 7.1 |
| Extreme problems/unable to | 1.4 | 3.7 | 1.4 | 1.5 | 3.2 | 4.8 | 2.3 | 4.5 | 1.4 | 1.5 |
Figure 2. EQ-5D-5L index, EQ-VAS, SF-12 physical component score, SF-12 mental health component score, HADS anxiety subscale, and HADS depression subscale, by medication use. The horizontal bar inside the boxes indicates the median, the x indicates the mean, and the lower and upper ends of the boxes are the first and third quartiles. The whiskers indicate minimum and maximum values. P values were determined by F test (1-way analysis of variance) and adjusted for age, sex, educational attainment, and multimorbidity; significance level set at <.05. Abbreviations: EQ-5D-5L, EuroQol 5 Dimension-5 Level questionnaire; EQ-VAS, EuroQol visual analogue scale; HADS, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale; SF-12, 12-Item Short Form Health Survey.
| Item | 0 to <5 medications | 5 to <10 medications | ≥10 medications | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mean (SD) | Median (interquartile range) | Minimum–maximum | Mean (SD) | Median (interquartile range) | Minimum–maximum | Mean (SD) | Median (interquartile range) | Minimum–maximum | |
| EQ-5D-5L index score | 0.7 (0.3) | 0.8 (0.5 to 0.9) | −0.1 to 1 | 0.6 (0.3) | 0.7 (0.4 to 0.9) | −0.2 to 1 | 0.5 (0.3) | 0.5 (0.2 to 0.8) | −0.2 to 0.9 |
| EQ-VAS | 62.6 (18.2) | 65.0 (50.0 to 75.0) | 15 to 100 | 59.9 (17.6) | 63.0 (50.0 to 75.0) | 18 to 100 | 51.7 (20.0) | 60.0 (35.0 to 70.0) | 3 to 80 |
| SF-12 PCS | 39.2 (11.9) | 38.1 (29.3 to 50.2) | 16 to 63 | 36.4 (11.0) | 34.0 (28.8 to 45.7) | 14 to 59 | 29.7 (8.7) | 29.3 (22.3 to 34.0) | 17 to 50 |
| SF-12 MCS | 43.3 (11.4) | 43.3 (34.2 to 53.4) | 19 to 64 | 43.5 (12.3) | 45.3 (33.1 to 53.9) | 18 to 67 | 40.1 (13.1) | 39.3 (29.4 to 52.3) | 19 to 64 |
| HADS-anxiety | 7.5 (5.0) | 7.0 (4.0 to 11.0) | 0 to 21 | 7.3 (4.9) | 7.0 (3.0 to 11.0) | 0 to 20 | 8.4 (4.3) | 8.0 (6.0 to 12.0) | 0 to 19 |
| HADS-depression | 6.5 (4.8) | 6.0 (2.0 to 9.0) | 0 to 18 | 6.9 (4.8) | 6.0 (3.0 to 10.0) | 0 to 20 | 8.7 (4.6) | 8.0 (5.0 to 12.0) | 1 to 20 |
The opinions expressed by authors contributing to this journal do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the Public Health Service, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or the authors’ affiliated institutions.