Objectives: Polypharmacy is a common problem among older adults that can complicate cancer care and outcomes. Our objective was to examine the prevalence of polypharmacy and its potential association with functional status impairments, frailty, and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in older adults with gastrointestinal (GI) malignancy.
Methods: The Cancer and Aging Resilience Evaluation (CARE) registry is an ongoing prospective cohort study that uses a patient-reported geriatric assessment (GA) in older adults with cancer. For this cross-sectional analysis, we focused on older adults with GI malignancy that completed the GA prior to starting systemic cancer therapy. Polypharmacy was defined as patients reporting the use of ≥9 daily medications at their first visit to the medical oncology clinic. Using multivariable analyses, we examined the association of polypharmacy with functional status limitations, frailty, and HRQoL.
Results: 357 patients were included in our analysis, with a mean age of 70.1 years. 24.1% of patients reported taking ≥9 medications. In multivariable analyses adjusted for age, sex, race, cancer type, cancer stage, and medical comorbid conditions, patients taking ≥9 medications were more likely to report limitations in activities of daily living (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 3.29, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.72-6.29) and instrumental activities of daily living (aOR 2.86, 95% CI 1.59-5.14), have a higher prevalence of frailty (aOR 3.06, 95% CI 1.73-5.41), and report lower physical HRQoL (aOR 2.82, 95% CI 1.70-4.69) and mental HRQoL (aOR 1.73, 95% CI 1.03-2.91).
Conclusions: Older adults with GI malignancy taking ≥9 medications prior to cancer therapy were more likely to report functional status limitations, frailty, and reduced HRQoL, independent of the presence of medical comorbid conditions.
Keywords: Aging; Cancer; Geriatric assessment; Geriatric oncology; Polypharmacy.
Published by Elsevier Ltd.