Table 3

Percentage of residents with polypharmacy derived from 233 138 biweekly assessment data points between January 2019 to September 2022

N (%)What was included in the polypharmacy calculation?
Medicines and non-medicinal productsAny medicinesRegular medicines
No look-back period
 Prescribed129 445 (55.5)116 361 (49.9)102 950 (44.2)
 Administered103 422 (44.4)91 301 (39.2)79 034 (33.9)
 Difference26 023 (11.1)25 060 (10.7)23 916 (10.3)
1-week look-back period
 Prescribed140 120 (60.1)127 171 (54.6)111 216 (47.7)
 Administered129 213 (55.4)115 847 (49.7)100 171 (43.0)
 Difference10 907 (4.7)11 324 (4.9)11 045 (4.7)
2-week look-back period
 Prescribed143 371 (61.5)130 671 (56.1)113 020 (48.5)
 Administered135 168 (58.0)121 871 (52.3)104 517 (44.8)
 Difference8203 (3.5)8800 (3.8)8503 (3.7)
4-week look-back period
 Prescribed148 124 (63.5)135 684 (58.2)115 963 (49.7)
 Administered141 631 (60.8)128 498 (55.1)109 016 (46.7)
 Difference6493 (2.7)7186 (3.1)6947 (3.0)