(Current Challenges and Updates in Pharmacy Education and Research)

Prevalence of Polypharmacy among Patients in Baghdad: A descriptive study

Not scheduled

20m

كلية الصيدلة

Recorded poster Conference Trak Two

Speakers

Huda TalibDr Zina Anwer (Pharmacy college university of Baghdad )

Description

Objectives: Polypharmacy is defined as the administration of five or more drugs at the same time or administration of excessive number of drugs. Polypharmacy is common in patients with comorbid conditions and is associated with potential harms. The increase in age is associated with increase in chronic diseases and consequently increase in the number of medication consumption to manage these diseases and patients with comorbidity require multiple medications for a long term. The objective of this study is to find the prevalence of polypharmacy among Iraqi patients, the effect of sociodemographic characteristics on the prevalence. investigating the number and types of drugs used, risk factors associated with polypharmacy and finally patient adherence to therapy.
Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was used to evaluate medication use by persons in nursing homes and community-dwell. A face-to-face structured interview approach, was used in the study. In addition to sociodemographic data and comorbid diseases, patients were asked about the daily number and types of medications. Morisky 4-item scale was used to measure patients adherence.
Results: The prevalence of polypharmacy was 45.5% and extreme polypharmacy was 8%. The median daily medications in participants was 5.0. High medication adherence was observed among 49.9%. Polypharmacy correlate with age (rs = 0.187, p = 0.006) and with BMI (rs = 0.185, p = 0.007). Polypharmacy did not correlate with adherence (rs = 0.057, p = 0.423) in this study. Polypharmacy is not significantly affected by the educational level, H(3) = 4.807 p 0.186. Insignificant difference between female (median =5) and male (median =5), (U = 5297.500, p= 0.363).
Conclusion: The prevalence of polypharmacy was relatively similar or less than that reported in other countries. Antidiabetic and antihypertensive medications were commonly used. Age and BMI significantly affect polypharmacy. Surprisingly, medication adherence was not related to polypharmacy in this study.