Polypharmacy in Older Patients ≥70 Years Receiving Palliative Radiotherapy.
Many older cancer patients receive five or more daily medications (polypharmacy). The purpose of this study was to assess the prevalence of polypharmacy in older patients undergoing palliative radiotherapy and its influence on the risk of being unable to complete the prescribed number of fractions, as well as the 30-day mortality and overall survival.



Retrospective review of 289 patients aged 70 years or older.



The median and mean Charlson comorbidity index (11) was 2, ranging between 0-7 (presently treated cancer not included). The median and mean number of daily medications was 7, ranging between 0-18. Only 27% of patients used less than 5 daily medications. Corticosteroids were used by 59% of the patients and opioid analgesics by 55%. Comorbidity, but also symptom severity, as indexed by pain medication, correlated significantly with the prevalence of polypharmacy. In multivariate analysis, neither polypharmacy nor use of corticosteroids or opioid analgesics influenced overall survival. No trends were seen for 30-day mortality or failure to complete radiotherapy.



Polypharmacy is a common phenomenon in older patients receiving palliative radiotherapy and it does not predict adverse radiotherapy outcomes.
Department of Oncology and Palliative Medicine, Nordland Hospital Trust, Bodø, Norway carsten.nieder@nlsh.no.|Department of Clinical Medicine, UiT - The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway.
Carsten
C
Nieder
Department of Oncology and Palliative Medicine, Nordland Hospital Trust, Bodø, Norway.
Bărd
B
Mannsăker
Department of Oncology and Palliative Medicine, Nordland Hospital Trust, Bodø, Norway.
Adam
A
Pawinski
Department of Oncology and Palliative Medicine, Nordland Hospital Trust, Bodø, Norway.|Department of Clinical Medicine, UiT - The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway.
Ellinor
E
Haukland
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015897:Comorbidity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D009664:Norway / Q000453:epidemiology; D010146:Pain / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology; D010166:Palliative Care / Q000379:methods*; D019338:Polypharmacy; D015995:Prevalence; D012189:Retrospective Studies
Comorbidity; elderly patients; palliative radiotherapy; polypharmacy; prognostic factors