OBJECTIVES : Polypharmacy is present in many cancer survivors and may lead to negative health-related quality of life. This study assessed the association between polypharmacy and health-related quality of life among non-institutionalized cancer survivors living in the Unites States.

METHODS : A cross-sectional study was conducted using the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) database, a set of surveys of households, their medical providers and employers throughout the U.S. We included all adult patients with a primary clinical classification code for cancer, during even years spanning 2008 to 2014. Polypharmacy was defined as reported use of five or more therapeutic classes of prescription medications. Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) was measured using the Short Form 12-Item Health Survey Version 2 (SF-12v2) Physical Component Summary (PCS) and Mental Component Summary (MCS) scores. Multivariate least squares regression was used to assess associations between polypharmacy and HRQoL.

RESULTS : An estimated 10.1 million cancer survivors per calendar year were included in this study. Cancer survivors were mostly white (81.8%), female (56.0%), and under the age of 65 (51.6%). Female breast (17.2%), prostate (13.7%), and melanoma (7.3%) were the most prevalent cancer types. Polypharmacy was present among 44.4% of cancer survivors. After adjusting for covariates, mean PCS scores in survivors with polypharmacy were significantly associated (p-value <.0001) with a decrease of 3.7 points compared to those without polypharmacy (35.8 vs. 39.5, respectively). Polypharmacy was not significantly associated (0.50 points; p-value= 0.3145) with differences in mean MCS scores compared to survivors without polypharmacy (44.9 vs. 45.4, respectively) in multivariate regression analyses.

CONCLUSIONS : Cancer survivors with polypharmacy accounted for approximately 45% of the population and had significantly lower PCS scores than their counterparts without polypharmacy. The impact of polypharmacy on physical well-being should be considered by cancer survivors and their providers.