Increasing use of medicines in elderly persons : a five-year follow-up of the Kuopio 75+Study

The aim of this study was to describe the changes in medicine use, polypharmacy and excessive polypharmacy between 1998 and 2003 among a cohort of elderly Finns. For this prospective follow-up study, a random sample of 700 participants aged >or=75 years was drawn from the City of Kuopio, Finland. Of them, 601 participated in the study at baseline in 1998. The changes in medicine use among the survivors (n=339), who were re-examined in 2003, were recorded and are described here. Statistical significance of changes in medicine use was evaluated by Student's paired-samples and independent-samples t-test and Fisher's exact test. From 1998 to 2003, the mean number of medicines in use per individual increased from 6.3 to 7.5 (p5 medicines in use) increased from 54% to 67% and excessive polypharmacy (>or=10 medicines in use) from 19% to 28%. The increase was due to increased use of regularly taken medicines, whereas the use of medicines taken as needed decreased during the follow-up in both sexes. At the time of follow-up survey, persons in institutional care used significantly more medicines (10.9) than community-dwelling elderly persons (7.0) (p