Prevalência, fatores associados e mau uso de medicamentos entre os idosos: uma revisão

Abstract

Most elderly people use at least one medication, and about one-third use more than five drugs simultaneously. Many patients have no access to the drugs they most need, and others use unnecessary or dangerous drugs. The mean number of drugs used by the elderly, as quoted in different studies, varies from 2 to 5. Significant predictors for such misuse of medication are older age, female gender, precarious health conditions, and depression. Cardiovascular drugs, anti-rheumatics, and analgesics are the most frequently consumed therapeutic classes. Multiple use, prescription of contraindicated drugs, redundant use, and inadequate training of the health care team are associated with adverse drug effects and interactions. Better quality of prescriptions and research on drug use can bring benefits to people aged 60 years or older.

Epidemiologia do uso de medicamentos entre idosos em area urbana do Nordeste do Brasil

“…9,21,22 In this study, women tended to take more medications than men, although the difference in prevalence of polypharmacy was not statistically signifi cant between the sexes. In general, women made more use of health care services and were better at reporting their conditions; 1 thus, they are more likely to take medication.…”

“…This is due to a combination of factors: higher prevalence of chronic illness, polypharmacy and, often, malnutrition. 4,10,21 There is no consolidated definition of the term polypharmacy. Bushardt et al, 3 in a revision of the literature, identifi ed a number of concepts; among the most commonly found were "taking medication inappropriate to the diagnosis", "taking multiple medications", "duplicating drugs and/or taking potentially inappropriate medication".…”

“…12 Polypharmacy linked to physiological and clinical conditions which are specifi c to the elderly makes taking medication a cause of concern for the health care sector. 8,9,21,26 It is important to understand this population's patterns of medication use in order to establish rational use, improve quality of life and maintain functional capacity.…”

Influência da renda na associação entre disfunção cognitiva e polifarmácia: Projeto Bambuí

“…Polypharmacy was defi ned as the consumption of two or more medications, such that consumption of interactions and adverse drug reactions, diffi culty in complying with prescriptions and excessive expenditure on healthcare are some of the undesirable consequences from polypharmacy. 21,22 These consequences are more likely to occur among the elderly, because of the anatomofunctional changes that accompany aging and modify the pharmacokinetics of medications. 22 Multiple use of medications is more frequent among elderly people, 1 because of the high prevalence of chronic diseases during this phase of life.…”

Uso de medicamentos por pessoas com deficiências em áreas do estado de São Paulo

“…23 Although the use of medicines to improve the population's health status has been recognized, access to medicines and their benefi ts are unequally distributed In Brazil, it is estimated that 23% of the population uses 60% of the production and that 64.5 million individuals do not have fi nancial conditions to acquire the required medicines. 20 Certain governmental actions aimed at the pharmaceutical assistance sector have been performed to reduce social discrepancies in access to medicines. The Política Nacional de Medicamentos (PNM -Brazilian Policy of Medicines), established in 2001 by the Ministry of Health, aims to guarantee access to essential medicines by the population c and it was structured into three main categories: sanitary regulation, economic regulation and pharmaceutical regulation.…”