Table 2

Eligibility criteria and typical exclusion examples

Inclusion criteriaTypical exclusion examples
Population — adults living with multimorbidity:
  • Studies must include adults (18 years and older)

  • Studies must focus on those with multimorbidity—defined as 2 or more long-term conditions, not linked to an ‘index disease’

  • Studies focusing on patients with diabetes with renovascular disease (ie, has an index condition of diabetes)

Concept — problematic polypharmacy:
  • Studies focusing on polypharmacy—defined as the concurrent use of multiple medications

  • Studies that consider the long-term clinical impact of multiple medicines

  • Studies that consider the consequences of multiple medicines or the ‘problematic’ element of polypharmacy

  • Studies focused on single medications

  • Studies based on prescribing of antibiotics for acute presentations only

  • Studies that are simply descriptive of the number of tablets taken and do not report any risk factors, outcomes or consequences

Context — primary care:
  • Studies with relevance to primary care, including studies which crossed the primary-secondary care interface.

  • Studies solely on hospital-based pharmacists

Study type
  • Studies written in English

  • Studies presenting full descriptions of the research (eg, research studies, systematic reviews, randomised controlled trials, pilot studies and policy documents)

  • Letters, comments, conference abstracts, protocols, proceedings and so on.