Classifying Polypharmacy According to Pharmacotherapeutic and Clinical Risks in Older Adults: A Latent Class Analysis in Quebec, Canada

Introduction The simplistic definition of polypharmacy, often designated as the concomitant use of five medications or more, does not distinguish appropriate from inappropriate polypharmacy. Classifying polypharmacy according to varying levels of health risk would help optimise medication use. Objective We aimed to characterise different types of polypharmacy among older adults and evaluate their association with mortality and institutionalisation. Methods Using healthcare databases from the Quebec Integrated Chronic Disease Surveillance System, we selected a community-based random sample of the population ≥ 66 years old covered by the public drug plan. Categorical indicators used to describe polypharmacy included number of medications, potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs), drug–drug interactions, enhanced surveillance medications, complex route of administration medications, anticholinergic cognitive burden (ACB) score and use of blister cards. We used a latent class analysis to subdivide participants into distinct groups of polypharmacy. Their association with 3-year mortality and institutionalisation was assessed with adjusted Cox models. Results In total, 93,516 individuals were included. A four-class model was selected with groups described as (1) no polypharmacy (46% of our sample), (2) high-medium number of medications, low risk (33%), (3) medium number of medications, PIM use with or without high ACB score (8%) and (4) hyperpolypharmacy, complex use, high risk (13%). Using the class without polypharmacy as the reference, all polypharmacy classes were associated with 3-year mortality and institutionalisation, with the most complex/inappropriate classes denoting the highest risk (hazard ratio [HR] [95% confidence interval]: class 3, 70-year-old point estimate for mortality 1.52 [1.30–1.78] and institutionalisation 1.86 [1.52–2.29]; class 4, 70-year-old point estimate for mortality 2.74 [2.44–3.08] and institutionalisation 3.11 [2.60–3.70]). Conclusions We distinguished three types of polypharmacy with varying pharmacotherapeutic and clinical appropriateness. Our results highlight the value of looking beyond the number of medications to assess polypharmacy.