Ma. P. Callao Gazol, A. Aller Blanco, Ma. T. Franco Sanagustín
Objective: To determine the prevalence and to know the profile of polymedicated elderly patients in an urban healthcare center from Huesca. Methods: Cross-sectional descriptive study. The selected population was a simple random sample of 82 patients obtained from the prevention and problem-detection program for elderly patients. From the sample, those polymedicated patients that take 5 or more drugs during a period equal or superior to 6 months, by any pathway, were admitted. About age, sex, convivence, at-risk situation, functional evaluation in daily life activities, morbidity, drug consumption, interactions and visits to the center were recorded. Results: The prevalence of polymedicated elderly patients was of 37.8% IC (27.3-49.2). In this group, the average age was of 80.2 years, with a 54.8% of women. The majority, 74.2%, lives with their families. 64.5% were at-risk elderly patients and only 16.1% presented a severe limitation of their functional capabilities. The most used therapeutic subgroups were antihypertensives, antithrombotics and diuretics in accordance with the most frequent diagnose, hypertension. Twelve interactions were detected in ten patients. In our study, the number of drugs presents an association with the number of diagnoses. The number of diagnoses explains 33% of the variability in the number of drugs. Conclusions: Patients older than 75 years of age with a greater number of chronic pathologies are the ones that consume a larger number of drugs, existing a concordance between the encountered morbidity and the most used therapeutic subgroups
© 2001-2024 Fundación Dialnet · Todos los derechos reservados