Polypharmacy Predicts Onset and Transition of Frailty, Malnutrition, and Adverse Outcomes in Peritoneal Dialysis Patients

Background Polypharmacy, frailty and malnutrition are known predictors of adverse outcomes in dialysis patients. Little has reported about their interaction and composite prognostic values. We aimed to describe the interaction between polypharmacy, frailty, nutrition, hospitalization, and survival in peritoneal dialysis patients. Methods In this prospective cohort study, we recruited 573 peritoneal dialysis patients. Drug burden was measured by medication number and daily pill load. Frailty and nutrition were assessed by the validated Frailty Score (FQ) and Subjective Global Assessment (SGA) respectively. All patients were followed for two years. Primary outcome was all-cause mortality. Secondary outcomes were fall and fracture episodes, hospitalization, change in FQ and SGA. Results At baseline, each patient took 7.5 ± 2.6 medications with 15.5 ± 8.5 tablets per day. Medication number, but not daily pill load predicted baseline FQ (p = 0.004) and SGA (p = 0.03). Over 2 years, there were 69 fall and 1,606 hospitalization episodes. In addition, 148 (25.8%) patients died, while FQ and SGA changed by 0.73 ± 4.23 and −0.07 ± 1.06 respectively in survivors. Medication number (hospitalization: p = 0.02, survival: p = 0.005), FQ (hospitalization: p < 0.001; survival: p = 0.01) predicted hospitalization and survival. Medication number also predicted fall episodes (p = 0.02) and frailty progression (p = 0.002). Daily pill load did not predict any of these outcomes. Conclusions Drug burden is high in peritoneal dialysis patients, and it carries important prognostic implication. Medication number but not pill load significantly predicted onset and progression of frailty, malnutrition, fall, hospitalization, and mortality.