OBJECTIVE

To determine medication consumption in the older people from a central area of Oporto; determine the prevalence of prescription of Potentially Inappropriate Medication and to analyse the polypharmacy and other important connected factors.

DESIGN, SETTING AND PATIENTS: Cross-sectional study with a sample of 747 patients older than 64 years, who were attended in a Primary care health centre: USF Rainha D. Amélia, Oporto, Portugal.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES

identification of all medication prescribed from electronic registers. Polypharmacy was considered more than 5 medication prescribed and Potential Inappropriate Medication was identified by Beers criteria 2012. The socio-demographic factors, diagnosis and health care services use were registered too. Logistic regression analysis was used to determine the association between co-variables.

RESULTS

There were 89.2% (95%CI: 87.6-92.0) of the studied population with at least one prescription. The polypharmacy was present at 59.2% (95%CI: 55.7-62.7) of people. The Potential Inappropriate Medication was present in 37.0% (95%CI: 33.5-40.5) of the cases. The Potential Inappropriate Medication was related with increasing age [OR=1.02 (95%CI: 1.00-1.05)], polypharmacy [OR=4.45 (95%CI: 3.12-6.36)], and be diagnosed with depression/anxiety [OR=2.18 (95%CI: 1.36-3.51)] and/or arthrosis [OR=1.64 (95%CI: 1.11-2.42)].

CONCLUSION

The rate of medication prescription, polypharmacy and the prescription of Potentially Inappropriate Medication are very high in Portuguese population studied. The polypharmacy is the most important factor related with this potential inappropriate medication. The physician need to have carefully with prescription of the anxiolytic and anti-inflammatory pain drugs.