Polypharmacy, inappropriate medications common in older cancer patients

Older patients with cancer are unusually susceptible to polypharmacy, as well as potentially inappropriate medications and potential drug-drug interactions, reveals a study.

The authors conducted this retrospective cross-sectional study between September 2021 and September 2022 on cancer patients aged >65 years who had been hospitalized at Suleyman Demirel University Medical Faculty Hospital in Isparta, Turkey.

Potentially inappropriate medications were defined using the 2023 Beers Criteria of the American Geriatrics Society, while potential drug-drug interactions were identified via Medscape drug interaction checker.

Patients used a median of six drugs (minimum, 2; maximum, 15), with polypharmacy noted in 74.3 percent. More than half of them (51.4 percent) also had potentially inappropriate medications, of which the most common were diuretics (22.1 percent), metoclopramide (11.4 percent), antidepressants (7.9 percent), and opioids (6.4 percent).

Patients with potentially inappropriate medication were more likely to experience comorbidities; mental, behavioural, and neurodevelopmental disorders; circulatory system diseases; and respiratory system diseases than those without potentially inappropriate medication (p<0.05).

Ninety-eight patients (70 percent) also had one or more potential drug-drug interactions, which were deemed minor in 33.3 percent, major in 57.5 percent, serious in 7.74 percent, and contraindicated in 0.22 percent.

“It is important to determine potential drug-drug interactions and potentially inappropriate medications in cancer patients by a multidisciplinary team, including the clinical pharmacist, to prevent possible negative consequences,” the authors said.