Polypharmacy Associated With Disease Severity, Comorbidities

In patients with SLE, excessive polypharmacy is linked with comorbidities and disease severity, in addition to social aspects like economic status and hospital visitation patterns, according to a study published in Modern Rheumatology. To better understand factors linked with polypharmacy and excessive polypharmacy among patients with SLE, researchers conducted a single-center crosssectional study of data from 261 patients with SLE from September 1, 2020 to November 30, 2020. The percentages of patients who presented with polypharmacy (regular use of ≥5 oral medications) and excessive polypharmacy (regular use of ≥10 oral medications) were 70% and 19%, respectively. Polypharmacy was linked with long disease duration, older age, administration of glucocorticoids or immunosuppressive agents, and high disease activity. Excessive polypharmacy was tied to history of visits to multiple internal medicine clinics, a higher updated Charlson Comorbidity Index, and the presence of public assistance.