Polypharmacy and Clinical Outcomes in Hospitalized Patients With Acute Decompensated Heart Failure

Polypharmacy is a common problem among patients with acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF) who often have multiple comorbidities. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to define the number of medications at hospital discharge and whether it is associated with clinical outcomes at 1 year. METHODS: We evaluated the number of medications in 2578 patients with ADHF who were ambulatory at hospital discharge in the Kyoto Congestive Heart Failure Registry and compared 1-year outcomes in 4 groups categorized by quartiles of the number of medications (quartile 1, ≤ 5; quartile 2, 6–8; quartile 3, 9–11; and quartile 4, ≥ 12). RESULTS: At hospital discharge, the median number of medications was 8 (interquartile range, 6–11) with 81.5% and 27.8% taking more than 5 and more than 10 medications, respectively. The cumulative 1-year incidence of a composite of death or rehospitalization (primary outcome measure) increased incrementally with an increasing number of medications (quartile 1, 30.8%; quartile 2, 31.6%; quartile 3, 39.7%; quartile 4, 50.3%; P < .0001). After adjusting for confounders, the excess risks of quartile 4 relative to those of quartile 1 remained significant (P = .01). CONCLUSIONS: In the contemporary cohort of patients with ADHF in Japan, polypharmacy at hospital discharge was common, and excessive polypharmacy was associated with a higher risk of mortality and rehospitalizations within a 1-year period. Collaborative disease management programs that include a careful review of medication lists and an appropriate deprescribing protocol should be implemented for these patients.