Rational Drug Use Knowlege Levels of Individuals Aged 65 and Over with Multiple Drug Use

Abstract

Objective: Chronic diseases that increase with aging bring about the use of multiple drugs. As in the whole world, patients aged 65 and over constitute the majority of the multi-drug user class in our country. The aim is to determine the knowledge level of elderly patients registered in the family medicine unit about rational drug use, to increase the quality of life and treatment compliance of the patients, and to raise awareness in order to reduce drug interactions and treatment costs.

Methods: The population of this cross-sectional and descriptive study consists of 163 patients aged 65 and over, registered at a family health center, and using five or more drugs voluntarily to participate in the study. Sociodemographic data form and Rational Drug Use Scale consisting of 21 items were applied by interviewing all the patients face to face. SPSS 22.0 packet data program was used to analyze the data.

Results: The study was conducted with a total of 163 cases, 66 (40.5%) male and 97 (59.5%) female, aged between 65 and 95. While 49.1% of the cases have knowledge of smart drug use, 50.9% do not. There is no statistically significant relationship between age group, gender, marital status, presence of chronic disease, smoking and having knowledge of rational drug use. The rate of having knowledge of rational drug use among undergraduate and higher graduates is statistically significantly higher than that of illiterate and primary school graduates.

Conclusion: The fact that the level of knowledge in this study conducted with individuals with polypharmacy was similar to the literature indicates that there are factors other than the knowledge level of the patients that cause polypharmacy. In all studies in Turkey in which the knowledge level of rational drug use is evaluated on special groups, the most basic determining factor is the education level of individuals. More comprehensive projects should be carried out in order to increase the level of knowledge of Rational Drug Use and these projects should also include family members who care for the dependent elderly group.