Why the study?
Is high levels of polypharmacy associated with hospitalization in older home care patients?
Is high levels of polypharmacy associated with hospitalization in older home care patients?
High polypharmacy marks older home care patients for elevated hospitalization risk; supports risk stratification but leaves causality and intervention effects open.
This study shows a relationship between high levels of polypharmacy and hospitalization. Although it cannot be determined from this study whether a higher number of medications was an indicator of sicker patients at risk for hospitalization, or whether a higher number of medications might have directly led to hospitalization, polypharmacy should still be considered a marker for older home care patients for whom prevention of hospitalization is the goal.
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Flaherty et al. (2000) studied this question.
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