Somatic complaints and refrain from buying prescribed medications. Results from a cross-sectional study on people 60 years and older living in Kaunas (Lithuania)

Data was collected in a cross-sectional study in 2009. We received 624 completed questionnaires (response rate – 48.9%) from persons aged 60–84 years living in Kaunas (Lithuania). Somatic complaints were measured with the 24 item version of the Giessen Complaint List (GBB-24). Logistic regression (Enter model) was used for evaluation of the associations between refraining from buying medications and somatic complaints. These associations were measured using odds ratio (OR) and calculating the 95% confidence interval (CI).The mean scores in total for the GBB scale and sub-scales (exhaustion, gastrointestinal and cardiovascular) were lowest among respondents who did not refrain from buying prescribed medications (means for GBB-24 scale: 21.04 vs. 24.82; p=0.001). Logistic regression suggests that somatic complaints were associated with a increased risk of refraining from buying prescribed medications (OR=1.35, 95% CI=1.15-1.60).Somatic complaints were significantly associated with the decision to refrain from buying prescribed medications.The use of medicines by elderly people is a growing concern in social pharmacy and beyond [1,2]. Increasing prices and proportion of out-pocket payments in purchasing necessary pharmaceuticals leads to situations where some elderly people refrain from buying prescribed medications [3,4]. Reports on underuse of medications provide different results for different countries. A recent study revealed that the incidence of this type of refrain varies from 3% in the Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Netherlands to 9% in the United States [5]. A crucial, but understudied link, in understanding the problem of people refraining from buying prescribed medications is patient’s health status. Patient health status and related conditions (such as costs due ill-health) may influence the decision whether or not to purchase medications. Previous research has found that that main cause of this decision has been financial reasons [5,6]. There is evide