Colombijn JMT, Bonenkamp AA, van Eck van der Sluijs A, et al. - Among dialysis patients, a lower Physical Component Summary (PCS), Mental Component Summary (MCS), and self-rated health as well as more symptoms were observed in relation to a higher number of medications, post-adjustment for comorbidity and other confounders.

• Dialysis patients are usually prescribed a large number of medications.

• A multicentre cohort study with 162 dialysis patients was conducted.

• The mean number of medications was 12.2 ± 4.5.

• Adjusted analyses revealed 0.6 point lower PCS for each additional medication (95% confidence interval [95% CI]: −0.9 to –0.2).

• For the highest and middle tertiles of medications, MCS was 4.9 point lower (95% CI: −8.8 to –1.0) and 1.0 point lower (95% CI: −5.1–3.1), respectively, vs for the lowest tertile.

• For each medication, self-rated health was 1.5 point lower (95% CI: −2.2 to –0.7).