TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2022//
TI  - Prevalence, predisposing factors and strategies to reduce polypharmacy among older patients in Poland
JO  - Polskie Archiwum Medycyny Wewnetrznej
A1  - Błeszyńska-Marunowska, Emilia
A1  - Jagiełło, Kacper
A1  - Grodzicki, Tomasz
A1  - Wierucki, Łukasz
A1  - Sznitowska, Małgorzata
A1  - Kalarus, Zbigniew
A1  - Renke, Marcin
A1  - Mitręga, Katarzyna
A1  - Rewiuk, Krzysztof
A1  - Zdrojewski, Tomasz
SP  - ePub
EP  - ePub
VL  - ePub
IS  - ePub
N2  - INTRODUCTION: The world's older population is growing dramatically. Pharmacotherapy in seniors is particularly challenging due to changes in metabolism, multimorbidity, and great interest in non-prescription drugs. <br><br>OBJECTIVES: We aimed to provide up-to-date data on the pharmacotherapy of Poland's geriatric population, determine factors predisposing  to polypharmacy and excessive polypharmacy, and identify seniors most likely to require multidisciplinary interventions in the field of pharmacotherapy. <br><br>PATIENTS AND METHODS: All prescription and non-prescription drugs used within two weeks preceding the study by a representative national sample of 3014 home-dwelling people over 65 years old were analyzed. The variables of age, sex, place of residence, level of education, and multimorbidity were considered. Post-stratification was used to balance the sample structure to match the Polish population of 2017. <br><br>RESULTS: Consumption of at least one drug was acknowledged by 90.7% of people over 65 years old, with a mean number (with 95% CI) of 5.01 (4.87-5.15). At least one non-prescription drug was indicated by 44.2% of the respondents, with a mean number (with 95% CI) of 0.52 (0.49-0.55). More than five drugs were identified in 53.5% of the entire population, while more than ten drugs were found in 8.7% of the respondents, with multimorbidity as the most predisposing factor. Single pill combinations accounted for 27.2% of medications. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: Polypharmacy resulting from multimorbidity confirms the need for combined medical and pharmaceutical care of geriatric patients.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0032-3772
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.20452/pamw.16347
ID  - ref1
ER  -