141st APHA Annual Meeting

In This section

283082
Inappropriate medication prescribing for elderly brazilians living in nursing homes

Tuesday, November 5, 2013 : 8:54 AM - 9:06 AM

Cléa Garbin , Araçatuba Dental School, 248295, Araçatuba/SP, Brazil
Thaís Lima , São Paulo State University, Araçatuba, Brazil
Artênio José Ísper Garbin
Dóris Sumida , Univ. Estadual Paulista, Araçatuba, Brazil
Orlando Saliba , Univ. Estadual Paulista, Araçatuba, Brazil
The use of potentially inappropriate medications (PIM) for the elderly is a serious public health problem because it is intrinsically linked to increased morbidity and mortality, causing high costs to public health systems.Evaluate the prevalence of the use of potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs) and the associated risk factors for elderly residents at institutions. The study was conducted in six nursing homes for elderly in big cities of the state of São Paulo, Brazil. 261 elderly residents of nursing homes aged ≥ 60 years took part in this study. Data were collected through documentary analysis of medical records. The identification of PIM was performed according to the resulting lists of recently updated Beers criteria and the relationship between risk factors and use of PIM was evaluated using the chi-square and a multiple logistic regression model. Among the elderly persons who used medications every day, 209 (82.6%) were taking at least one PIM. Polymorbidity variables (OR 3.00, CI: 0.80–11.35), depression (OR 1.59, CI: 0.64–4.01), and diabetes mellitus (OR 2.6, CI: 0.87–7.77) lost significance after they were included in the logistic regression model, whereas polypharmacy (p = 0.033), psychiatric disorders (p ≤ 0.001) and cerebrovascular disease (p = 0.006) remained strongly associated with the use of inappropriate medication even after multivariate analysis. The study's results show a high prevalence of PIM use among the elderly in Brazilian care homes, with polypharmacy, psychiatric disorders, and cerebrovascular disease being the most strongly associated risk factors.

Learning Areas:
Chronic disease management and prevention
Clinical medicine applied in public health
Other professions or practice related to public health
Public health or related education
Public health or related nursing
Public health or related research

Learning Objectives:
Evaluate the prevalence of the use of potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs) and the associated risk factors for elderly residents at institutions.

Keywords: Aging, Nursing Homes

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am a teacher and researcher at the Univ Estadual Paulista where he developed several research about aging. In particular this research received financial aid from a major agency promoting our state.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.