Investigation and research on the comorbidity of cardiovascular diseases and polypharmacy in the elderly in the nursing center
LIU Pei-zong
DING Nan
CHEN Ying-ying
CHANG Le
WANG Shi-nan
XIONG Huan
WANG Chun-ling
Abstract：Objective To investigate the comorbidities(with more than≥2 chronic diseases at the same time)and comorbidities patterns of the elderly living in a large elderly care center in Hebei Province,and to investigate their multiple medications(≥5 types of medications).Methods The disease and medication data of 1062 elderly people over 60 years old in Hebei Yanda Golden Age Health Nursing Center from January 2023 to December 2023 were investigated.The"qgraph"software package in R 4.3.2 software was used to visualize the chronic comorbidities and drug use network of the elderly.To analyze the prevalence,comorbidities and patterns of chronic diseases,especially cardiovascular diseases,and to investigate the status of polypharmacy.Results The comorbidity rate of the nursing center was 95.36％,the polypharmacy rate was 51.22％.And 10 comorbidities were identified mainly for hypertension,coronary heart disease,hyperlipidemia,etc.The comorbidity rate increased with age.There were gender differences in both comorbidity rates and disease types:Males exhibited significantly higher comorbidity rates in cerebral infarction,carotid atherosclerosis,type 2 diabetes,and fatty liver disease compared to females,while females showed significantly higher comorbidity rates in hyperlipidemia,osteoporosis,sleep disorders,cataracts,and anxiety states(P＜0.05).The most commonly used medications include statins,calcium channel blockers,antiplatelet agents,benzodiazepines,and β-blockers.Polypharmacy rates in young-old,middle-old,and oldest-old elderly groups were 41.56％,49.84％,and 55.10％respectively,with the number of medications used increasing with advancing age.Statins,CCB antihypertensive drugs,antiplatelet aggregation drugs,calcium supplements,metformin were the most commonly used drugs in polypharmacy.Conclusion Comorbidities and polypharmacy are prevalent among elderly individuals in nursing centers,with cardiovascular and endocrine-metabolic diseases constituting the predominant components of comorbidity patterns.
Keywords：Chronic diseaseMultimorbidityComorbid patternsPolypharmacyNursing home
Publication Date：2025-05-20
Online Publishing Date：2025-08-15(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：6( 475-480 )