Medicine consumption by the elderly assisted at a day care center for older people in northwestern Paraná, Brazil

Abstract This work aimed to evaluate medicine consumption by old-aged people at a day care center, relating aspects of its rational use. For this purpose, home visitation was carried out, followed by interview based on a structured questionnaire. The results of the 72 interviews show that the elderly presented low schooling, 66% among the female gender. The most prevalent age group was 60 to 75 years old (81%). Hypertension was the most frequent chronic disease (54%), followed by diabetes mellitus and arthritis/rheumatism (17 and 15%, respectively). As for the medicine consumption, 89% were using some kind, where 73% were doctor prescribed medicines and 27%, not. In spite of 83% of the 231 used medicines being correctly indicated, 43.3% of them were improperly consumed as for their utilization period. The antihypertensive were the most cited medicine (20%), followed by nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory (19%), diuretics (10%) and phytotherapics (9%). The data obtained in this research indicate that the elderly, besides being medicine great consumers, frequently use multiple medicines, which represents health risks for them. This research evinces the importance of adequate orientations to promote the rational use of medicines, avoiding their inadequate use.