Polypharmacy and Health-Related Quality of Life/Psychological Distress Among Patients With Chronic Disease
ORIGINAL RESEARCH — Volume 19 — August 18, 2022
PEER REVIEWED
Figure 1.
Percentage of patients reporting problems on the 5 EQ-5D-5L dimensions, by whether patient reported polypharmacy, defined in study as use of ≥5 medications. P values were determined by logistic regression and were adjusted for age, sex, educational attainment, and multimorbidity; significance level set at <.05. Abbreviation: EQ-5D-5L, EuroQol-5 Dimension-5 Level questionnaire.
| Level of problems | Mobility (P= .01) | Self-care (P= .65) | Usual activities (P= .02) | Pain/discomfort (P= .29) | Anxiety/depression (P= .08) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No polypharmacy | Polypharmacy | No polypharmacy | Polypharmacy | No polypharmacy | Polypharmacy | No polypharmacy | Polypharmacy | No polypharmacy | Polypharmacy | |
| No problems | 52.0 | 34.6 | 76.0 | 70.3 | 38.0 | 30.1 | 23.1 | 16.0 | 54.8 | 48.0 |
| Slight problems | 23.5 | 21.2 | 15.8 | 15.2 | 24.4 | 22.7 | 27.1 | 20.8 | 26.2 | 26.4 |
| Moderate problems | 16.7 | 28.6 | 5.4 | 9.3 | 21.7 | 26.4 | 27.6 | 28.3 | 12.7 | 17.1 |
| Severe problems | 6.3 | 11.9 | 1.4 | 3.7 | 12.7 | 16.0 | 19.9 | 30.5 | 5.0 | 7.1 |
| Extreme problems/unable to | 1.4 | 3.7 | 1.4 | 1.5 | 3.2 | 4.8 | 2.3 | 4.5 | 1.4 | 1.5 |
Figure 2. EQ-5D-5L index, EQ-VAS, SF-12 physical component score, SF-12 mental health component score, HADS anxiety subscale, and HADS depression subscale, by medication use. The horizontal bar inside the boxes indicates the median, the x indicates the mean, and the lower and upper ends of the boxes are the first and third quartiles. The whiskers indicate minimum and maximum values. P values were determined by F test (1-way analysis of variance) and adjusted for age, sex, educational attainment, and multimorbidity; significance level set at <.05. Abbreviations: EQ-5D-5L, EuroQol 5 Dimension-5 Level questionnaire; EQ-VAS, EuroQol visual analogue scale; HADS, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale; SF-12, 12-Item Short Form Health Survey.
| Item | 0 to <5 medications | 5 to <10 medications | ≥10 medications | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mean (SD) | Median (interquartile range) | Minimum–maximum | Mean (SD) | Median (interquartile range) | Minimum–maximum | Mean (SD) | Median (interquartile range) | Minimum–maximum | |
| EQ-5D-5L index score | 0.7 (0.3) | 0.8 (0.5 to 0.9) | −0.1 to 1 | 0.6 (0.3) | 0.7 (0.4 to 0.9) | −0.2 to 1 | 0.5 (0.3) | 0.5 (0.2 to 0.8) | −0.2 to 0.9 |
| EQ-VAS | 62.6 (18.2) | 65.0 (50.0 to 75.0) | 15 to 100 | 59.9 (17.6) | 63.0 (50.0 to 75.0) | 18 to 100 | 51.7 (20.0) | 60.0 (35.0 to 70.0) | 3 to 80 |
| SF-12 PCS | 39.2 (11.9) | 38.1 (29.3 to 50.2) | 16 to 63 | 36.4 (11.0) | 34.0 (28.8 to 45.7) | 14 to 59 | 29.7 (8.7) | 29.3 (22.3 to 34.0) | 17 to 50 |
| SF-12 MCS | 43.3 (11.4) | 43.3 (34.2 to 53.4) | 19 to 64 | 43.5 (12.3) | 45.3 (33.1 to 53.9) | 18 to 67 | 40.1 (13.1) | 39.3 (29.4 to 52.3) | 19 to 64 |
| HADS-anxiety | 7.5 (5.0) | 7.0 (4.0 to 11.0) | 0 to 21 | 7.3 (4.9) | 7.0 (3.0 to 11.0) | 0 to 20 | 8.4 (4.3) | 8.0 (6.0 to 12.0) | 0 to 19 |
| HADS-depression | 6.5 (4.8) | 6.0 (2.0 to 9.0) | 0 to 18 | 6.9 (4.8) | 6.0 (3.0 to 10.0) | 0 to 20 | 8.7 (4.6) | 8.0 (5.0 to 12.0) | 1 to 20 |