Abstract

SANTANA VASALLO, Osiel; BEMBIBRE TABOADA, Rubén; GARCIA NUNEZ, Rubén  and  GONZALEZ AVALOS, Enrique. Efectos sobre la salud del anciano en cuanto a alteraciones en la medicación. Rev Cubana Med Gen Integr [online]. 1998, vol.14, n.4, pp.316-319. ISSN 0864-2125.

A descriptive-explorative study of 168 aged patients was conducted to find out the existence of polypharmacy, self-medication and overdose and their effects on analyzed aged population. The elderly and relatives were surveyed to gather interesting data such as age, sex, self-medication, overdose, polypharmacy, drug effects, Katz’s indexes, more used drugs and main adverse effects. 59.6 % of the series corresponded to females who resorted to self-medication more than males. Polypharmacy was reported in 29.76 % of cases and overdose was present in 17.86 % of patients; 25 patients used drugs without prescription; self-medication overdose was reported in 28 patients (93.3 %) whereas Katz A index prevailed. The most used drugs were psychodrugs and antibiotics and the prevailing reactions were syncope and other clinical symptoms. The chi-squate statistical significance test was conducted and the main results are shown in tables

Keywords : AGED HEALTH; SELF-MEDICATION; OVERDOSE; POLYPHARMACY; DATA COLLECTION; PHYSICIANS, FAMILY; PRIMARY HEALTH CARE.

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