Talking to Your Doctor About Polypharmacy and Deprescribing

In this series

A significant share of adults 65-plus take five or more prescription drugs, increasing their risk for dangerous side effects

Rachel Nania and Michael Schroeder,

Updated September 16, 2026

AARP

Reviewed by

Zachary Cox, PharmD

En español

Updated September 16, 2026

Animation: AARP; (Source: Getty Images)

Key Takeaways

Taking five or more medications can raise the risk of side effects, drug interactions and medication-related hospitalizations in older adults.
Deprescribing helps patients and clinicians review medications regularly to determine whether each drug is still needed and aligned with health goals.
Medication reviews should include prescriptions, over-the-counter drugs, vitamins and supplements, and some medicines may need to be tapered rather than stopped abruptly.

If you’re one of the millions of older Americans who take several medications, it may be time to ask your doctor if all those drugs are doing you more harm than good. In fact, regularly taking five or more medications — a practice known as polypharmacy — can become a health risk. Older adults are especially vulnerable “just by nature of having more conditions and usually getting more care,” says Shannan Takhar, an ambulatory care pharmacist at Sutter Health and UC Davis Health in Sacramento, California.

According to a 2019 report from the National Center for Health Statistics, roughly 1 in 5 adults ages 40 to 79 take five or more prescription medications. KFF, a nonprofit focused on health and policy research and polling, issued a 2026 poll that found older adults are especially likely to manage multiple prescriptions, with 6 in 10 people 65 and older reporting that they take four or more prescription medications — and this number may not include over-the-counter vitamins, minerals and supplements the respondents were also taking. Fortunately, there’s a growing movement in the medical community to reduce the number of medications patients take. Instead of adding more prescriptions to a patient’s list, some doctors are helping patients scale back on drugs they no longer need. Medicare even allows doctors and pharmacists to bill for these specific visits.

Deprescribing, as it’s called, is garnering significant interest from older adults. A report from the University of Michigan’s National Poll on Healthy Aging found that more than 80 percent of people 50 and older who take prescription medication said they’d like to stop taking one or more of them if their doctor gave the green light — and for good reason.

The more medications a person takes, the more likely a person is to experience side effects from medication interactions, says Dr. Milta Little, a geriatric medicine specialist and professor of medicine at Duke University School of Medicine. These side effects can lead to falls, frailty, confusion, weight loss and even death, research shows. Every day, more than 750 U.S. adults 65 and older are hospitalized for medication-related reactions, according to a report from the nonprofit Lown Institute. This report predicts that these reactions will cause 150,000 premature deaths by 2030.

Sometimes a medication prescribed to treat one condition can worsen another health issue or cause a new one, the National Institute on Aging says. Additionally, age-related changes in the body can affect the way medication is absorbed and used, increasing the risk for complications in older individuals.

“So the more medications you’re on, you’re just putting yourself at more risk of some of these preventable issues,” Takhar says.

Why do older adults take so many meds?

It’s not uncommon for adults to accumulate medications as they age. Chronic conditions, such as arthritis, high blood pressure and diabetes, become increasingly common as we age, and medications can help manage these issues. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the most commonly used medications among U.S. adults in their 60s and 70s are for high cholesterol, high blood pressure and diabetes.

When is polypharmacy appropriate?

Polypharmacy can happen when someone has several health conditions, each treated with its own medication. In this scenario, it may be appropriate and medically necessary for a patient to take five or more medications, and they would not be a good candidate for deprescribing efforts. Always consult with your doctor before stopping any medications.

Another reason: When people have multiple health problems, they’re more likely to see more than one doctor — they may have a cardiologist to manage their heart disease and a rheumatologist for arthritis in addition to their primary care physician. “Before we know it, there are a lot of cooks in the kitchen adding a bunch of different medications,” Little says.

There’s also what Little calls “the prescribing cascade,” where a doctor might prescribe a medication to treat a health issue, and that medication causes a side effect. “So then we prescribe a medicine or they go and get something over the counter to address that issue,” Little says, and the medications keep piling on.

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The availability of options adds to the problem, Takhar says. According to the Food and Drug Administration, more than 20,000 prescription drugs are approved for use in the U.S. “It feels like patients have a likelihood of being on a lot more medications today because there’s so much more available than in the past. And so we just need to be really cautious that we’re using them in an effective way,” she says.

How can older adults avoid polypharmacy?

Deprescribing is something to consider if you’re taking multiple medications and experiencing new symptoms, such as dizziness, falls or confusion — or if you develop a new illness or feel that a particular medication may no longer be helping, says Dr. Juliessa Pavon, associate professor of medicine and senior fellow in the Center for the Study of Aging and Human Development at the Duke University School of Medicine.

First, make a detailed list of all of the medications you take, including any drugs that have been prescribed during a hospital or skilled nursing stay, as well as any over-the-counter meds and vitamins and supplements you take.

“A good starting point is simply asking, ‘Do I still need all of these medications?’ and reviewing the risks, benefits, and personal goals of each medication together with a clinician,” Pavon says.

You may also want to see if any of the medications on your list are also on the American Geriatrics Society Beers Criteria (last updated in 2023), which lists medications that may pose extra risks for older adults because of their side effects. It is important to understand that not all medications included on the list are unsafe for all patients. This list should be used to identify potentially higher risk medications and initiate conversations with your primary care doctor about your individual benefits and risks.

If you feel like you don’t have time to fully review your medications during your routine check in with your doctor, you can set up a special “medication review visit,” which is covered under Medicare Part D for many older adults.

If your doctor recommends going off a medication or reducing your dosage, be sure you know what to expect. Will any symptoms reemerge, or will side effects pop up? If so, how will you manage them?

And know that not all medicines can just be stopped, Takhar says. “Sometimes we have to taper off slowly or monitor certain things.”

Experts emphasize that medication reviews shouldn’t be a one-time conversation; it’s important to make them a regular part of your care.

“Preventing polypharmacy starts with regularly reviewing medications and remembering that adding a medication should never be a one-way decision; every medication should periodically be reassessed to make sure it still fits a person’s health goals and needs,” Pavon says. “The goal isn’t fewer medications at all costs. The goal is the right medications for the right person at the right time. As our health changes, our medication lists should evolve too.”

How tech can reduce polypharmacy

Technology is being enlisted to combat polypharmacy and encourage deprescribing via prompts from electronic medical records. These prompts are used to encourage doctors to deprescribe and share the risks of potentially inappropriate medications with their patients. One recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found these types of prompts made doctors more likely to deprescribe at least one medication for their patients.

Polypharmacy and mental well-being

In addition to the physical risks, research from AARP finds that taking multiple medications may affect the mental well-being of older adults. Results from a survey of adults age 40-plus, published in June 2025, found that over half (55 percent) of those taking five or more medications reported low mental well-being, compared to 46 percent of those who take fewer than five medications.

Similarly, 47 percent of adults 40-plus taking five or more medications had low life satisfaction, compared to 37 percent of those who take four or fewer medications.

“Those with multiple medical conditions are more likely to experience polypharmacy, as well as medical side effects and unpleasant drug interactions — realities that can have detrimental impacts in the form of social isolation, life satisfaction and mental well-being,” the researchers write.

“The connection that emerges from still-limited research once again underscores the importance of increasing healthy habits (both physical and mental) to delay the onset of medical conditions and associated use of prescription medications.”

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Rachel Nania is an award-winning health editor and writer at AARP.org, who covers a range of topics including diseases and treatments.

Michael Schroeder is a freelance health writer and editor who's covered everything from chronic disease and mental health to medication side effects. His stories have been published in a range of print and digital publications, including Time, U.S. News & World Report, The Washington Post, and Psychology Today.

Zachary Cox is a pharmacist and professor at Lipscomb University College of Pharmacy and adjunct professor at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine in Nashville, Tennessee.

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