TOPLINE:

Medication concerns were prevalent among high-risk patients with multimorbidity in Madrid. Older age, polypharmacy, living alone, and chronic conditions were associated with medication concerns.

METHODOLOGY:

• Researchers conducted a cross-sectional study within the BEhavioral and Adherence Model for improving quality, health outcomes and cost-Effectiveness of healthcaRe project, focusing on 142,795 adult patients (mean age, 76.11 years; 53.0% men) in Madrid, identified as high-risk by the Adjusted Morbidity Groups tool.
• Of them, 40,776 (28.6%) self-reported medication concerns in electronic health records.
• Self-reported medication concerns encompassed worries about side effects, drug interactions, challenges with adherence to treatment, and the complexity of treatments.
• Variables analysed included sociodemographic factors, clinical factors, pharmacologic factors (such as the total number of medications, polypharmacy, and complications of prior treatment), types of medications, and adherence (80% or more of days covered for the recommended daily dosage).
• The researchers compared patients with medication concerns to those without and assessed the factors associated with medication concerns.

TAKEAWAY:

• Patients with medication concerns were more likely than those without concerns to live alone (8.5% vs 2.7%) and had greater dependency according to the Barthel scale (27.9% vs 13.0%).
• Patients with medication concerns vs those without concerns had a median of 7 vs 6 diseases and took more medications (mean number of medications, 9.7 vs 8.7).
• Older age (81-108 years) was strongly associated with medication concerns (odds ratio [OR], 10.40; P < .001). Other factors associated with medication concerns included polypharmacy (OR, 3.13; P < .001), living alone (OR, 1.46; P < .001), and having Parkinson's disease (OR, 1.31; P < .001).
• A higher deprivation index and a history of cancer were associated with lower odds of medication concerns (OR, 0.66; P < .001 and OR, 0.83; P < .001, respectively).

IN PRACTICE:

"Our findings from this sub study may provide PHC [primary healthcare] physicians tools to seek for patient's [patients] who may be prone to have medication concerns, and better address their needs with medication," the authors wrote. "This underscores the complexity of medication adherence and the need to address both psychological and practical factors when developing interventions," they added.

SOURCE:

The study was led by Ileana Gefaell Larrondo, MD, at the Federica Montseny Healthcare Centre, Primary Care Management in Madrid, Spain. It was published online on January 19, 2026, in BJGP Open.

LIMITATIONS:

The study's reliance on secondary data from electronic health records may have introduced variability in variable classification, potentially leading to information bias. GPs may have recorded diseases or symptoms using codes and included additional information as free text. Some professionals may have chosen not to document patient concerns at all.

DISCLOSURES:

The project was funded by the Innovative Medicines Initiative 2 Joint Undertaking, which receives support from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme, the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations, and Link2Trials. The authors reported having no competing interests.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.