Introduction: The increasing
number of elderly, and drug use among the elderly, emphasizes the need for
continuous monitoring of drug utilization. Chronic diseases are frequent among
the older population; the rate of drug related problems and drug-drug interactions (DDIs) with the
medical and financial consequences are enormous. Polypharmacy (PP) is defined
as the concomitant use of 5 or more medications. We studied PP among chronic
elderly patients in Gaza Strip and its distri- bution
among primary health care clinics in different areas. Materials and Methods:
This study is a descriptive analytical study, analyzing prescription data from
general practices during a 3-month time period, to measure the prevalence of PP
and medication errors among chronic elderly pa- tients.
Data were collected directly from the prescriptions and medical records, which contain
per- sonal data for patients like
patient age and gender, included the current illness, drug treatment for the
current illness, chronic disease/s and drug treatment for chronic disease/s.
SPSS software was used to analyze the obtained data. Results: Percent of major
PP was the highest among patients aged 60 - 69 years when compared with other ages categories of study population but not
reached to be statisticaly significant (0.012). Major PP was
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