Abstract

A PROSPECTIVE STUDY TO ASSESS THE PREVALENCE OF POLYPHARMACY AND ITS RISK FACTORS AMONG ELDERLY PATIENTS IN A TERTIARY CARE TEACHING HOSPITAL

Bipin Shaji*, Abisri Suresh and Vahideh Rezagholibeygi

ABSTRACT

Polypharmacy in the elderly population has become a great issue, which must be taken into consideration. Polypharmacy reduces medication adherence and increases overall treatment cost. The objectives of the study were, to evaluate the prevalence of polypharmacy and its risk factors among the elderly population, also, to analyse the drug-related problems and to assess the rationality of the prescriptions among the elderly population. This was a prospective observational study conducted with a sample size of 318 elderly patients over 6 months. In the study population, the majority of the elderly population was in the age group of 65 to 75 years (258 patients). Among the study population, 74% of patients have lifestyle diseases, either Diabetes Mellitus, Hypertension or both. The elderly population have to use many medications due to their comorbid conditions and age-related complications, the most commonly used agents were in the categories of Antihypertensive agents (58%) followed by Antidiabetic agents (46%). In our study, we observed that about 156 patients had mild polypharmacy (2 to 4 Medicines) and 139 patients had major polypharmacy ( > 5) in their prescription. The risk for polypharmacy increases due to increasing age and lifestyle diseases. Proper follow-up and patient education are needed to identify drug-related problems and to improve medication adherence.

Keywords: Polypharmacy, Medication Adherence, Elderly Population, Patient Education