The comorbidity conditions and polypharmacy in elderly patients with mental illness in a middle income country: a cross-sectional study⋆

Highlights • Polypharmacy is extremely high in elderlies with mental illness. • Dementia and Depression patients have a significantly higher risk for dyslipidemia. • The prevention of comorbidities and polypharmacy should be high-priority in MICs.
Background Mental disorders increase the risk factor for developing physical comorbidity conditions, such as cardiometabolic diseases. There is a high prevalence of multimorbidity and polypharmacy in the elderly population which hampers clinical response. Studies have shown that this positive correlation between the aging process and enhancement of physical comorbidities is especially high among older adults who live in low or middle income countries. Objective To investigate the association between physical disease comorbidities and polypharmacy in older adults with a clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or major depressive disorder (MDD), living in a middle income country. Methods Cross-sectional study of community-dwelling elderly individuals who are cognitively healthy and those with AD, MCI, or MDD. The severity scale of the Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) was calculated to classify the severity of comorbidity condition. Logistic regression model (unadjusted and adjusted for age) were used to calculate odds ratios (OR) and 95 % confidence intervals (CI) for cardiometabolic comorbidity (hypertension, diabetes, dyslipidemia and overweight), and polypharmacy. Results Although there was not an increased risk of hypertension, diabetes, and obesity among the groups, elderly people with mental disorders presented higher odds for polypharmacy condition. Polypharmacy was significantly higher for all groups in comparison with cognitively healthy participants: AD (OR 22.00, 95 % CI 6.11–79.11), MDD (OR 14.73, 95 % CI 3.69–58.75) and MCI (OR 10.31, 95 % CI 2.44–43.59). Elderly patients with AD presented more severe comorbidities and higher risks for dyslipidemia. Conclusion Elderly patients with depression, dementia and mild cognitive impairment have considerably higher odds for polypharmacy. People with dementia also have greater comorbidity severity than those who are cognitively healthy. In middle income countries, there is an urgent need to focus on promoting age-appropriate health approaches for the elderly with mental illness to prevent the development of aggravated cardiometabolic conditions and polypharmacy.