Aim: To examine the influence of polypharmacy ordered by the pretreating site and deprescribing (i.e. the appropriate withdrawal of prescribed drugs) by the nursing home physician on survival time.
Methods: Retrospective Analysis of medical databasis from 1,249 patients, thereof 611 in a nursing home with practice of deprescribing.
Results: 70% of the patients with excessive polypharmacy (>9 drugs), 57% of those with polypharmacy (6 to 9 drugs) and 43% of the remaining patients (<6 drugs) deceased within 286 days after admission (chi-squared 2 DF = 43.72; p <0.001). Deprescribing by the nursing home physician at admission revealed no influence on survival time.
Conclusion: Polypharmacy is not the reason, but an indicator for a poor prognosis, which is not altered by deprescribing.