A cross-sectional study conducted among 600 older adults across 6 Indian cities has found that the prevalence of polypharmacy and unsafe self-medication is high in this population.
Polypharmacy– Refers to the intake of 5 or more medications per day.
Prevalence – The highest prevalence of polypharmacy was found in Guwahati (57%), while Madhya Pradesh (Ujjain) had the lowest prevalence (11.7%).
Impact – The prevalence of polypharmacy was 33.7% with significant associations to multiple comorbidities,(2 or More Disease) causing hospitalization.
Survey Conducted by – Researchers from various institutes such as Department of Global Public Health, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden and the Indian Council of Medical Research.
Older Persons’ Prescriptions and Screening Tool to Alert to Right Treatment (STOPP-START) – An updated screening tool that was used in the survey to:
The study found the proportion of prescriptions with PIM and PPO were 28.8% and 20.3% respectively.
The highest prevalence of PIM use is 46.2% and it was attributed to medications prescribed without evidence-based clinical indications and those prescribed beyond the recommended duration.
Key findings of the survey – 25.2% of the individuals used at least one fixed-drug combination (solid oral formulations).
The most common combinations were antihypertensive and antidiabetic fixed-drug combinations.
The prevalence of self-medication was 19.7%, associated with factors, such as staying alone, multiple comorbidities and recent hospitalizations.
The most common medicines that were self-medicated were nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (59%).
It was followed by paracetamol (42.4%) and antibiotics for upper respiratory tract infection and diarrhoea (33.9%).
A lack of awareness and unsafe practices were found among self-medicating individuals.
Among those who self-medicated, 65.3% lacked knowledge of self-medication, 50% did not comprehend the risks and 40.7% reported unsafe self-medication practices.
Prevention – To promote safe medication use in older adults.
Lack of interventions in creating awareness and establishing services for medication reconciliation, review and feedback.
