Prevalence of Poly-pharmacy in the Elderly: Implications of Age, Gender, Co-morbidities and Drug Interactions

Abstract

Poly-pharmacy is defined as a concurrent use of five or more medications and is critical in individuals with multiple chronic medical conditions. There are many factors affecting the incidence of poly-pharmacy. This study will assess the relationship between poly-pharmacy and factors such as age, gender, level of education, number of medications, drug interactions and comorbidities in elderly patients. Method: This is a single-center retrospective cohort study conducted in a tertiary hospital in the United Arab Emirates. Results: A majority of 237 patients aged from 60 to 69 years with average of 67± years were included in this study. A total of 89% of the participated patients were taking more than five medications and exposed to at least one poly-pharmacy episode according to its definition. It was revealed in this study that the more exposure to poly-pharmacy can lead to co-morbidities. The relationship between age-groups and drug interactions was also measured in this study. The number of drug interactions increased with increasing the number of medications taking by elderly patients. Moreover, the gender that was mostly exposed to poly-pharmacy was prevalently males and was found to have a greater number of co-morbidities than their counterpart female subjects. Nevertheless, the highest interventions from healthcare professionals were on patients taking multiple medications and aged 60 to 69 and 70 to79 years. Conclusions: This study is additional evidence that the prevalence of poly-pharmacy is widespread among elderly patients. Evaluating the relationship between poly-pharmacy and other factors such as age, gender, level of education, number of medications, drug-drug interactions, interventions and co-morbidities revealed that there is a clear relationship. Therefore, educational programs targeting primary care physicians, other healthcare professionals and elderly patients should be developed in hospital settings. Key Words: Poly-pharmacy, elderly patients, poly-pharmacy in the elderly.