Polypharmacy and associated factors in people living in a nursing home in Kayseri Turkey

Abstract

It has been found that residents of nursing homes have more frequent drug side effects, because they use more drugs than those living in the community. This study was conducted to determine the status of polypharmacy and related factors among the individuals living in a nursing home. Materials and Methods: The cross-sectional study was conducted in a nursing home in the provincial centre of Kayseri in 2016. A socio-demographic questionnaire and Standardized Mini Mental Test (SMMT) were used for data collection. A total of 99 participants were included in the study. Chi square test, unpaired t test and one-way ANOVA test (Posthoc Scheffe test) were used for statistical analyses. Results: It was determined that, 58.6% of the study group was male, mean age was 76.0±9.5 years, and 88.9% used at least one kind of medicine. The prevalence rate of polypharmacy was found 59.6%. According to SMMT scores, 66.7% of the participants had cognitive impairment. Prevalence rate of polypharmacy was found 69.0% among the individuals with cognitive impairment. From the standpoint of polypharmacy, statistically significant differences were found between the participants having and not having chronic diseases, such as hypertension, diabetes, heart disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Conclusions: Polypharmacy was determined in more than half of the individuals living in nursing home. Individuals living in nursing homes should be informed about the use of medicines and their medicine use should be closely monitored.

Medication Errors and Potentially Inappropriate Medication Use in Elderly Patients Admitted to the General Internal Medicine Outpatient Clinic of a University Hospital

“…In community-based telephonic survey conducted in 1998 and 1999 in the USA, 10 the rates of polypharmacy and excessive polypharmacy were reported to be 57% and 12% in elderly females and, 44% and 12% in elderly males, respectively. Moreover, the rate of polypharmacy was reported to be 59.6% in a study conducted in patients living in a nursing home in Turkey, 11 26.7% in a study conducted in 67 primary care practices in Germany, 12 47.6% in a study on female patients in a geriatric outpatient clinic in Turkey, 13 and 45% in a study on patients aged ≥75 year-old who were admitted to the emergency services in England. 14 In the case of hospital-based studies, in a study on patients admitted to 5 hospitals in Norway, 15 the rate of polypharmacy on admission was reported to be 47%.…”

Polypharmacy and potential inappropriate drug use in the elderly admitted to the general internal medicine outpatient clinic

“…On the basis of drugs, the most common of these was the inappropriate use of proton pump inhibitors (PPI) (n=30, 9.9%) and potent anticholinergics (n=23, 7.6%). The rates of polypharmacy were reported as 47.6% in a study that patients admitted to a geriatric outpatient clinic in Turkey 5 , 59.6% in a study that patients living in nursing homes in Turkey 6 , 47% in a study that patients admitted to the hospital in Norway 7 and 51.9% in another study in Italy. 8 The rates of PIDs in studies using Beers 2015 criteria were reported as 60% in a study in two assisted living facilities in the USA 9 and 29.3% in another study at the time of admission to internal medicine and surgical services in Jordan, and in the latter study PPIs were the most common PIDs.…”