Alawainati Mahmood, Habib Fatima, Ateya Eman, Dakheel Eman, Al-Buainain Muneera
Family Medicine, Primary Healthcare Centers, Manama, Bahrain.
Family Medicine, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland - Medical University of Bahrain, Muharraq, Bahrain.
Sultan Qaboos Univ Med J. 2024 Feb;24(1):63-69. doi: 10.18295/squmj.9.2023.052. Epub 2024 Feb 28.
This study aimed to determine the prevalence, characteristics and determinants of polypharmacy among elderly patients in Bahrain.
This cross-sectional study was conducted between March and April 2022 in all primary healthcare centres in Bahrain. A simple random sample was obtained. An elderly patient was defined as one aged ≥60 years and polypharmacy was defined as the concomitant use of 5 or more medications, with excessive polypharmacy defined as the concomitant use of 10 or more medications.
A total of 977 patients were included, with more than half of them being females (n = 533, 54.55%) and the mean age of the participants at 67.90 ± 6.87 years. Essential hypertension, hyperlipidaemia and diabetes mellitus were the most common comorbidities among the participants (61.51%, 57.63% and 53.22%, respectively). Among the cohort, 443 (45.34%) were on 5 or more medications and of those 66 (6.76%) were on at least 10 medications. A multivariate analysis revealed that patients with diabetes (odds ratio [OR] = 5.836, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 4.061-8.385; <0.001), hypertension (OR = 6.231, 95% CI: 4.235-9.168; <0.001), hyperlipidaemia (OR = 3.999, 95% CI: 2.756-5.802; <0.001), cardiovascular diseases (OR = 3.589, 95% CI: 1.787-7.205; <0.001) and asthma (OR = 3.148, 95% CI: 1.646-6.019; <0.001) were significantly more likely to suffer from polypharmacy.
Polypharmacy is prevalent among elderly patients in Bahrain, particularly among those with non-communicable diseases. Polypharmacy should be considered while delivering healthcare services to the elderly, especially those with non-communicable diseases.
本研究旨在确定巴林老年患者多重用药的患病率、特征及决定因素。
本横断面研究于2022年3月至4月在巴林所有基层医疗中心开展。获取了一个简单随机样本。老年患者定义为年龄≥60岁，多重用药定义为同时使用5种或更多药物，过度多重用药定义为同时使用10种或更多药物。
共纳入977例患者，其中超过一半为女性（n = 533，54.55%），参与者的平均年龄为67.90±6.87岁。原发性高血压、高脂血症和糖尿病是参与者中最常见的合并症（分别为61.51%、57.63%和53.22%）。在该队列中，443例（45.34%）患者使用5种或更多药物，其中66例（6.76%）患者至少使用10种药物。多因素分析显示，糖尿病患者（比值比[OR]=5.836，95%置信区间[CI]：4.061 - 8.385；P<0.001）、高血压患者（OR = 6.231，95%CI：4.235 - 9.168；P<0.001）、高脂血症患者（OR = 3.999，95%CI：2.756 - 5.802；P<0.001）、心血管疾病患者（OR = 3.589，95%CI：1.787 - 7.205；P<(此处原文有误，推测为P<0.001)）和哮喘患者（OR = 3.148，95%CI：1.646 - 6.019；P<0.001）患多重用药的可能性显著更高。
多重用药在巴林老年患者中普遍存在，尤其是在患有非传染性疾病的患者中。在为老年人，尤其是患有非传染性疾病的老年人提供医疗服务时应考虑多重用药问题。
