Polypharmacy Management Strategies in Older Adults; A scoping review

Increasing life expectancy has led to a significant increase in the growth rate of the elderly population. In parallel with this increase, the elderly is affected by various diseases and required to use various drugs. Consumption of a large number of drugs can cause various injuries and problems for the elderly contrary to what is expected, so this study aims to investigate polypharmacy management strategies in the elderly.

By reviewing the database of SID, IranDoc, Google scholar, PubMed, Medline, Scopus, Cochrane Library, Science Direct and using the keywords "elderly/older adults", "management", "drug adherence" and "polypharmacy"; all articles examining polypharmacy management strategies in the elderly, were examined by PRISMA checklist and included in the study. Electronic search was performed in the period 2015-2022.

Among the 20 reviewed articles it was identified the use of strategies such as; Physician-pharmacist interaction, educating the elderly about self-medication hazards, informing the elderly about herbal medicine limitations, using electronic tools to monitor the process of drug use and using protocols and guidelines for prescribing, can surprisingly reduce the number of medications in the elderly medication regimen and made it much easier to take medication in this age group.

Polypharmacy is one of the problems that many elderly people face today. This phenomenon can cause various damage to the health status of these people in the long term. Examining the strategies that can prevent polypharmacy in the elderly, can greatly maintain and improve the health index in the elderly, so the attention of the health care system in the community and also groups of the elderly, especially nurses in this field, to this issue is essential.