Consumo de medicamentos en ancianos

a retrospective observational descriptive study was carried out in the health area of the people′s council luyanó, subordinated to "14 de junio" polyclinics, with the aim of characterizing the drug consumption in a sample of aged people. the study was made from november to december 1999 and from january to february 2000. one-hundred and thirty two older people were interviewed, which represented 89 % of the total amount of aged people taken care by 2 physician？s offices. the average age was 71,23 years. we found that 81 % of the older people took some drug (except vitamins) and the main reason of prescription was cardiovascular diseases and joint pains. the most used drugs were analgesics, anti-inflammatories, antipyretics, and mainly aspirin. forty-nine patients used vitamins and 21 resorted to traditional herb medicine. 40 % of prescriptions was made by the family doctor, 41 % by other specialists and 19 % represented self-medication practice. in general, few secondary effects were reported, mainly digestive malaises. the drug consumption was high in the studied sample, which mostly corresponds to the treatment of frequent diseases found in this age group.