ArticleAtencion primaria2009
[Self-medication and the elderly. The reality of the home medicine cabinet].
Article in Atencion primaria, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Concurrent Use of Prescription Drugs and Herbal Medicinal Products in Older Adults: A Systematic Review.Drugs & aging · 2017Pooled it
- Self-medication with over-the-counter drugs among consumers: a cross-sectional survey in a Southwestern State in Nigeria.BMJ open · 2023Article
- Drug-Drug Interaction Potential, Cytotoxicity, and Reactive Oxygen Species Production ofFrontiers in pharmacology · 2021Article
- Factors associated with self-medication in users of drugstores and pharmacies in Peru: an analysis of the National Survey on User Satisfaction of Health Services, ENSUSALUD 2015.F1000Research · 2019Article
- [Design, construction and assessment of a scale to measure the attitude towards the self-medication in adolescents].Revista espanola de salud publica · 2018Article
- Concurrent use of prescription drugs and herbal medicinal products in older adults: a systematic review protocol.Systematic reviews · 2016Article
- Prevalence and Cause of Self-Medication in Iran: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Article.Iranian journal of public health · 2015Review
- An exploratory study on medications in Qatar homes.Drug, healthcare and patient safety · 2011Article
- Social determinants of prescribed and non-prescribed medicine use.International journal for equity in health · 2010Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectiveTo estimate the prevalence of self-medication in the elderly, to describe the characteristics of self-medication and home medicine cabinets.
designCross-sectional descriptive study.
settingAn urban primary health care (PHC) centre in Spain.
participantsA total of 240 patients 75 years of age or older. MAIN MEASUREMENTS: A structured questionnaire filled in by home care nurses from April to June 2006. Self-medication was classified into 4 sub-groups: pharmacological or herbal, exclusively pharmacological, exclusively herbal and pharmacological and herbal. The study variables were: age, sex, living alone, number of chronic diseases, number of chronic prescriptions and medicine cabinet characteristics (drugs accumulation, expired drugs, chronic drugs out of prescription, location of medicine chest and periodic review). Other variables were: drug types, source, and acute/chronic reason for self-medication.
resultsSelf-medication frequency was 31,2% (95% CI, 26-36), with 22.9% (95% CI, 17.5-27.5) being pharmacological and 15.4% (95% CI, 23.1-17.3), herbal. The drugs most used in self-medication were analgesics (30.9%) and cold remedies (27.2%). The pharmacy was the most usual source (49.3%). A total of 41.6% contained drugs that were out of chronic prescription, and 34.4% accumulated more than three boxes of the same medication.
conclusionsThere is a significant prevalence of self-medication among the elderly. Accumulating drugs in homes is a very extensive practice. Pharmacists and PHC professionals need to be trained in the responsible use of chronic and self-medication. Although self-care has to be encouraged, PHC professionals must make their patients aware of the harmful effects of self-medication.
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