• Medicina clinica · Aug 2019

    Prevalence of polypharmacy and associated factors in older adults in Spain: Data from the National Health Survey 2017.

    • Marta Gutiérrez-Valencia, Pablo Aldaz Herce, Esther Lacalle-Fabo, Beatriz Contreras Escámez, Bernardo Cedeno-Veloz, and Nicolás Martínez-Velilla.
    • Servicio de Farmacia, Navarrabiomed, Universidad Pública de Navarra (UPNA), Complejo Hospitalario de Navarra (CHN), IdiSNA, Pamplona, Navarra, España. Electronic address: marta.guva@gmail.com.
    • Med Clin (Barc). 2019 Aug 16; 153 (4): 141-150.

    Background And Objectiveto estimate the prevalence of polypharmacy and hyperpolypharmacy in non-institutionalised older adults in Spain and assess the associated factors.Material And Methodsa cross-sectional study based on data from the National Health Survey of Spain 2017, with participants aged 65 and over. The prevalence of polypharmacy (≥5 medications) and hyperpolypharmacy (≥10) were estimated, as well as the association with several factors through multivariate logistic regression. A sensitivity analysis was carried out considering the possible consumption of more than one drug for the same indication (polytherapy).Results7023 participants were included, with a mean age of 76.0 (SD 7.6), 59.4% female and average consumption of 3.3 (SD 2.2) drugs per person. The prevalence of polypharmacy was 27.3% (95% CI 26.2-28.3) and of hyperpolypharmacy 0.9% (95% CI 0.7-1.1). The sensitivity analysis showed that the prevalence could be at least 37.5% and the average 3.9 (SD 2.5) when considering polytherapy. The factors most associated with polypharmacy were the number of chronic diseases, degree of dependence for the basic activities of daily living, self-perceived health or contacts with the health system; and negatively, sensory deficits and incontinence.Conclusionsthe prevalence of polypharmacy in the elderly in primary care continues to increase and could be widely underestimated. In addition to multimorbidity, factors such as functional capacity or geriatric syndromes, fundamental in elderly people, modulate the habits of consumption and prescription of drugs in this population.Copyright © 2019 Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

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