Development and exploration of polymedication network from Pharmaceutical and Medicare Benefits Scheme data

Polypharmacy or concurrent intake of multiple medications is often associated with negative health outcomes and adverse drug reactions. Routinely collected administrative health data can be a potential and inexpensive alternative to study large population to understand this polypharmacy phenomenon and associated risk. However, synthesizing medication intakes from pharmaceutical records of administrative data can be challenging. In this study, we proposed a graph or network-based approach to understand polypharmacy utilizing the 10% Pharmaceutical and Medicare Benefits Scheme sample data in Australian healthcare context. We proposed methods to identify drug regimens from discrete information of drug dispenses. A polymedication network is then generated from the regimens. We also explored potential relationship among patients' age, medical and pharmaceutical costs and several categories of polymedication regimens. The result showed complex relationships among various drugs and signified the multimorbidity nature of the targeted treatments. Especially the long-term polymedication regimens are found to be focused on treating chronic conditions like cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, asthma, COPD and acid reflux, consistent with the Australian population's disease burden. The methods and networked approach presented in this study can act as a basis for further pharmacovigilance and identifying adverse drug reactions.