Helling D K, Lemke J H, Semla T P, Wallace R B, Lipson D P, Cornoni-Huntley J
J Am Geriatr Soc. 1987 Jan;35(1):4-12. doi: 10.1111/j.1532-5415.1987.tb01312.x.
Medication use was studied in a rural, elderly population. Household interviews were conducted of 3,467 individuals aged 65 years or older. A total of 9,955 prescription or nonprescription drugs were reported by the respondents. The overall mean number of drugs per respondent was 2.87, while 12% of all respondents were not taking any drugs. Mean prescription and overall drug use increased significantly with increasing age (P less than .001), while mean nonprescription drug use was relatively constant across age groups. Significantly more women were prescription and nonprescription drug users. Directions for scheduled daily dosing accounted for 75% of all directions. The majority of prescription and nonprescription drugs had been taken on the previous day. General practitioners accounted for more prescription drugs (39.7%) than any other medical specialty. The most frequently stated purpose was cardiovascular for prescription drugs and musculoskeletal for nonprescription drugs. The three most frequent prescription drug therapeutic categories were cardiovascular (54.7%), central nervous system (CNS) agents (11.4%), and analgesics (9.4%). For nonprescription drugs, the three most frequent therapeutic categories were analgesics (39.6%), vitamins and minerals (32.9%), and laxatives (14.1%). Implications of these findings are discussed.
对农村老年人群的用药情况进行了研究。对3467名65岁及以上的个体进行了家庭访谈。受访者共报告了9955种处方药或非处方药。每位受访者的药物总体平均数为2.87，而所有受访者中有12%未服用任何药物。平均处方药使用量和总体药物使用量随年龄增长显著增加（P小于0.001），而平均非处方药使用量在各年龄组中相对稳定。使用处方药和非处方药的女性明显更多。每日定时给药说明占所有说明的75%。大多数处方药和非处方药是在前一天服用的。全科医生开具的处方药（39.7%）比其他任何医学专科都多。最常提及的处方药用途是心血管方面，非处方药是肌肉骨骼方面。最常见的三类处方药治疗类别是心血管类（54.7%）、中枢神经系统（CNS）药物（11.4%）和镇痛药（9.4%）。对于非处方药，最常见的三类治疗类别是镇痛药（39.6%）、维生素和矿物质（32.9%）以及泻药（14.1%）。讨论了这些发现的意义。
