Profile of drug utilization in the elderly living in Porto Alegre, Brazil

Abstract

The elderly population is one of the most rapidly increasing populations in the world. Physiological alterations induced by the aging process make these individuals more susceptible to chronic diseases and, consequently, to increased drug utilization.ObjectiveTo describe the profile of drug utilization in the elderly living in Porto Alegre, RS, Brazil.MethodsAn observational and cross-sectional population-based study to investigate the characteristics of the population, sources of information and types of drugs used by the elderly was performed. Four hundred and eighty patients were recruited from data supplied by the City Hall of Porto Alegre. The elderly were interviewed individually during the period from January to May 2006 by trained interviewers. A validated pharmacotherapy questionnaire was used for data collection and data were tabulated and analyzed by the SPSS 11.5 computer program.ResultsOf the 480 patients interviewed, 13.8% did not use any medication. Cardiovascular system drugs represented the pharmacological class most used by the elderly (64.0%). When ill, 71.9% of these individuals visited the doctor, while 36.9% self-medicated. For the majority (50.2%), drugs were identified by their labels. Only 41.2% of the elderly understood medical prescriptions and 68.3% of the patients studied obtained the necessary information for the appropriate use of therapy from their doctors.ConclusionsThe present study suggests that a pharmaceutical care program for the treatment, prevention, and use of medications may provide a higher efficiency to elderly drug therapy.

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“…In the present study, the use of medication was significantly more in elderly females than elderly males. This correlated to other studies done in Brazil 3 and USA 22 .…”

Drug utilization evaluation among an elderly population: a retrospective cross-sectional study in a tertiary care hospital in Pakistan

“…Globally, the elderly comprise one of the fastest growing populations. [1] Ageing and its associated physiological changes make the elderly more prone to chronic disease, [2] and this ultimately leads to an escalation in drug use. Associated with this is the inappropriate use of medicines, which is the most significant problem experienced by the elderly population.…”

“…[6] Moreover, DDIs are accountable for prolonged hospital stays and this adds financial pressures to health systems that are already stretched. [8,9] The use of potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs) is very common in the elderly population [10] and is classified into three categories: (1) inappropriate medications independent of the disease or condition, (2) medications that intensify the underlying diseases and (3) medications that must be taken with caution because they interact with other medicines already in use. [11] A number of developed countries have developed guidelines for PIMs including Australia, [12] the United States (US), [13] France, [14] Germany, [15] Korea, [16] Canada, [11] Ireland [17] and Norway.…”

“…Globally, the elderly comprise one of the fastest growing populations . Ageing and its associated physiological changes make the elderly more prone to chronic disease, and this ultimately leads to an escalation in drug use.…”

Potential interactions of central nervous system drugs used in the elderly population

“…The elderly interviewed were randomly recruited, by the University social service professionals, from different socioeconomic groups as previously described by Faggiani et al, 2007. Briefly, Porto Alegre City Hall provided the data for different neighborhoods where elderly citizens are concentrated within the population, as well as the names and addresses of these individuals. The sample size for this study was similar to the number of elderly analyzed in a previously published study (Rio Grande do Sul, 1996) for each neighborhood of Porto Alegre and was updated according to an estimate of the population variation through 2005 developed by the Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística -IBGE (IBGE, 2003).…”