United States Polypharmacy Patterns from Four Billion Patient-Months

United States outpatient prescription drug claims from 2007 to 2014 quantify polypharmacy across four billion patient-months. The data counts exposure incidences for combinations of up to five drug ingredients or ATC drug classes. Among patients taking any prescription drug, half are exposed to two or more drugs, and 5% are exposed to eight or more.

Use Cases

• Analyze the incidence of multi-drug combinations across four billion patient-months of outpatient claims.
• Identify common drug combinations treating manifestations of metabolic syndrome using ATC drug class data.
• Characterize real-world polypharmacy patterns by counting exposure incidences for up to five drug ingredients.
• Prioritize common drug combinations for safety studies by examining unique drug combinations in exposure windows.

Strengths

• Derived from four billion patient-months of outpatient prescription drug claims.
• Quantifies exposure incidences for combinations of up to five drug ingredients or ATC drug classes.
• Provides a detailed summary of polypharmacy in a large US cohort from 2007-2014.

Limitations

• Specific column definitions, sample data, and row counts are unavailable for detailed analysis.
• Data covers 2007-2014 and may not reflect current prescribing patterns or drug availability.
• Limited to outpatient prescription claims from the Truven MarketScan Databases, excluding inpatient or over-the-counter drug use.

Provenance

Source

Truven Health MarketScan Databases.

Collection Method

Analysis of outpatient prescription drug claims, grouping prescriptions into discrete windows of concomitant drug exposure.

Time Range

2007-2014.

Freshness

Last updated 2020-06-24.

Geography

United States.