Access to continued-use medication among older adults, Brazil

Abstract

OBJECTIVE To determine the prevalence and associated access factors for all continued-use prescription drugs and the ways in which they can be obtained.METHODS Data was obtained from the 2008 Household National Survey. The sample comprised 27,333 individuals above 60 years who reported that they used continued-use prescription drugs. A descriptive analysis and binary and multiple multinomial logistic regressions were performed.RESULTS 86.0% of the older adults had access to all the medication they needed, and among them, 50.7% purchased said medication. Those who obtained medication from the public health system were younger (60-64 years), did not have health insurance plans, and belonged to the lower income groups. It is remarkable that 14.0% of the subjects still had no access to any continued-use medication, and for those with more than four chronic diseases, this amount reached 22.0%. Those with a greater number of chronic diseases ran a higher risk of not having access to all the medication they needed.CONCLUSIONS There are some groups of older adults with an increased risk of not obtaining all the medication they need and of purchasing it. The results of this study are expected to contribute to guide programs and plans for access to medication in Brazil.

Access to medicines for chronic diseases in Brazil: a multidimensional approach

“…Study with senior population in Brazil who reported long-term use of medicines showed prevalence of full access of 86.0% 27 .…”

Acesso e adesão a medicamentos entre pessoas com diabetes no Brasil: evidências da PNAUM

“…In the USA, a national survey conducted in 1999 indicated a prevalence of 26.9% 46 ; in Australia, a longitudinal study among people with DM found a prevalence of 21.6% 47 , results close to those found in our study. 18 . Other analytical studies of the NHS estimated that 80.2% of people with DM who were 18 years of age or older used medicines (oral and/or insulin) 26 , of which 57.4% acquired at least one through the BPPP 25 .…”

“…By 2014, access to medication in Brazil was only studied indirectly [16][17][18] or in local [19][20][21][22] and regional studies 23 , with different approaches, analytical cuts, methodologies and with little possibility of expansion of results. Results from the Brazilian National Health Survey (NHS) provided information on the use of the Brazilian Popular Pharmacy Program (BPPP) 24 , the prevalence of use of NCD medicines 25 , and the care of people with self-reported DM in Brazil, such as the use of medications (oral or insulin) 26 .…”

Vinculação aos planos de saúde de menor abrangência e seu impacto na utilização da rede de serviços do SUS: uma análise a partir da Pesquisa Nacional de Saúde de 2013

“…Pesquisa Nacional de Saúde (PNS), Brasil, 2013. Fonte: Elaboração própria dos microdados da PNS-2013. Embora os clientes de planos de saúde com maior renda já contem com maior facilidade de acesso aos serviços de saúde, em concordância com o que asseverou Viana et al (2015) sobre o melhor acesso aos sistemas a essa parcela da população, era de esperar que não necessitassem recorrer ao SUS, afinal desembolsam quantias mensais relativamente altas, que podem comprometer boa parte de suas rendas, para contar com um serviço em saúde que oferte melhores cuidados e condições de acesso e utilização. Essa utilização serve para mostrar também que, mesmo entre as classes de maior renda per capita, a potencial utilização da rede de serviços do SUS é uma realidade.…”

“…Há diferenças marcantes segundo a classe socioeconômica, e os extratos da população com menor renda ainda apresentam baixas taxas de utilização de serviços especializados, evidenciando as desigualdades entre as classes. Essas desigualdades no acesso e na utilização, além de ocorrerem entre as pessoas vinculadas e não vinculadas aos planos de saúde, também são perceptíveis entre os clientes dos planos, de tal modo que essa clientela, em um contexto de maior renda, se beneficia de melhor acesso aos cuidados em saúde (Viana et al, 2015).…”