Understanding, Identifying and Addressing Problematic Polypharmacy
Research type
Research Study
Full title
UnDerstanding, IDentifying and ADdressing Problematic Polypharmacy in Primary Care (3D Polypharmacy Study)
IRAS ID
329408
Contact name
Jung Yin Tsang
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Manchester
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 8 months, 30 days
Research summary
People are living longer, with more people having multiple long-term conditions (multimorbidity). These patients are usually treated with several different medicines taken together, known as polypharmacy.
Half of people over 65 in the UK take at least five regular medicines each day and almost a quarter take more than seven. Medicines help people, but taking too many medicines can be a burden on patients and may cause problems.
About 10% of medicines prescribed are considered to be inappropriate, costing the NHS an extra £1 billion every year. We do not fully understand why this happens.
Sometimes patients are prescribed medicines that they no longer need. However, where medicines are recommended, medicines for one condition can still affect other conditions and some combinations can worsen side effects and drug reactions.
The planned study is funded by the NIHR (NIHR302624) and through three parts, it aims to understand and improve care for people with multimorbidity who are taking too many medicines:
Work Package 1: (Quantitative) We will examine a large collection of health records across the country to explore the factors linked to many medicines being prescribed together. (Already approved and not subject to this ethics application)
Work Package 2: (Qualitative) We will interview people taking multiple medicines from a representative range of General Practices. We will talk about their experiences with medicines and try to understand how they make decisions. With people’s permission, we will interview professionals involved in their care such as GPs and pharmacists to further understand management.
Work Package 3: (Qualitative) We will hold three participatory workshops with key stakeholders (including GPs, pharmacists, patients, carers, and organisational representatives) to discuss opportunities and challenges in managing multiple medicines. Through shared learning, we aim to understand how we can improve care for people taking too many medicines from multiple perspectives.
REC name
North West - Greater Manchester East Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
23/NW/0290
Date of REC Opinion
28 Sep 2023
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion