The intersection of polypharmacy, severe mental illness and impaired mobility for people with multiple long-term health conditions: a scoping review protocol

Multiple long-term conditions and multimorbidity (MLTC-M) are major public health issues. Previous literature has highlighted associations between medication, mobility, and mental health (the 3Ms) and MLTC-M, which can result in poor health outcomes for patients. However, the extent to which the existing literature explores the interactions between the 3Ms and MLTC-M is unknown.

The aim of this scoping review is to describe the extent and type of published evidence regarding factors or interventions related to the intersection of polypharmacy, severe mental illness (SMI) and impaired mobility in people with MLTC-M.

We will search Medline, Embase, Scopus, Psychinfo and CINAHL for evidence sources published from any time up to May 2025. We will exclude non-English language studies due to limited time and access to translation resources. We will include studies that discuss at least two of the 3Ms in relation to MLTC-M. Studies will be screened initially on title and abstract against the inclusion and exclusion criteria to create a short list for full text screening. The full texts will be examined in more detail against the criteria to determine if they meet the criteria for inclusion.

Data extraction will be based on the PICOS tool, reporting information on participants, interventions, comparators, outcomes, and study designs, as well as how many studies discuss all 3Ms. We will use tables and conduct a narrative synthesis to summarise the findings. We will not conduct a quality appraisal.