. European Geriatric Medicine, 12(3), 443- 452. The article presented polypharmacy based on its definition, epidemiology, and consequences utilizing secondary data from the Medline database. The authors made use of systematic reviews and articles from 2015 to 2020. Based on the findings of the study, the authors have concluded that the prevalence rate of polypharmacy is four percent among community-dwelling older people and ninety-six percent with hospitalized patients as a sample. Per the article, polypharmacy has no absolute definitions (Pazan, et al., 2021). The prevalence rate of polypharmacy highly depended on the age group citing frailty, death, hospitalization, falls, cognitive impairment, and physical function as some of its consequences. Strengths of the Article Individuals were sampled from all age groups making the data well-represented, including the consequences of polypharmacy, from all ages. Using articles from 2015 to 2020, the review was able to include fairly recent trends, making it more reflective of current situations in society. The article relied heavily on secondary data, lowering the likelihood of errors. A reference page was also used showing that the authors paid respect to and acknowledged the work of other authors, not claiming it as their own. Lastly, the article was written in 2021, making it current, relevant, and useful in assisting a person to make an informed decision. Weaknesses of the Article Quantitative data could have been used in the article to show exact figures of the impact of polypharmacy and the diseases associated with it. Using numerical values can help users understand the problem to an extent. Another disadvantage evident in the article is how it presented a review of reviews, where some articles were not of similar quality leading to some
3 errors being carried out. The article was also unable to explain the intended site of clinical consequences. Research Gaps The article’s authors were unable to include the risk factors that come with polypharmacy and ways to solve and counter its consequences. 2.Davies, L. E., Spiers, G., Kingston, A., Todd, A., Adamson, J., & Hanratty, B. (2020). Adverse outcomes of polypharmacy in older people: a systematic review of reviews. Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, 21(2), 181-187. The article presented and explained some of the outcomes of polypharmacy utilizing older individuals as a sample. The authors attempted to explain adverse effects associated with polypharmacy as it proved relevant among the senior population. The article was well-sourced, utilizing secondary data and reviews from several databases such as DARE (Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects), MEDLINE, CINAHL, EMBASE, PsycINFO, Scopus, Epistemonikos, (CDSR) Cochrane Database of Systematic Review
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