Prevalence and factors associated with polypharmacy in the older people: 2006–2014

Aims and objectives To analyse the prevalence, risk factors and evolution over time of polypharmacy and self‐medication in the older people in Spain from 2006–2014. Background Polypharmacy is a public health problem for older people worldwide which causes different negative effects on their health, increasing health costs and pharmaceutical spending. However, previous studies do not include nationally representative samples and none of them provide updated data. Design Cross‐sectional study with community‐dwelling older adults (N = 26,277) who participated in the National Health Survey in Spain in 2006 and 2011/2012 and the European Health Survey in Spain in 2009 and 2014. Methods Polypharmacy (defined as use of five or more medications in the last 2 weeks), excessive polypharmacy (defined as use of ten or more medications in the last 2 weeks) and self‐medication (defined as use of medications without a prescription) were evaluated. A logistic regression was used for to know the association between polypharmacy and self‐medication with the sociodemographic characteristic. Results The participants were 62% female and 38% male. The mean medication consumption was 2.96 (SD ± 2.11). Prevalence of polypharmacy was present in 21.9%, prevalence of excessive polypharmacy was 0.6%, and prevalence of self‐medication was 10.7%. The most commonly used medications were for blood pressure (51.6%), pain (42.8%) and cholesterol (28.2%). Polypharmacy is associated with sex (females), age, being separated/divorced/widowed, lack of education, higher body mass index, being bedridden during the last 2 weeks and self‐medication. Conclusions The prevalence of polypharmacy and prevalence of self‐medication are considerable, and they increased significantly from 2006–2014. Relevance to clinical practice To deal with polypharmacy is a big challenge for nurses. These data suggest to establish innovative clinical strategies in which the health professionals and the patients are involved to improve the personal behaviour with medicines and to reduce the risks and costs of polypharmacy and self‐medication.