Polypharmacy and its related factors among the elderly population in Kashan, Iran during 2011-2012

Elderly individuals use more drug and they are at a higher risk of polypharmacy complications. This study aimed to evaluate the polypharmacy and its related factors among the elderly group in Kashan (Iran) during 2011-2012. In a cross-sectional study, 360 elderly people over 60 years old were selected using the cluster-randomized method. Data were gathered based on a questionnaire contained demographic variables (e.g. age, sex, marital status, income status, level of education, hospitalization history) and main variables (e.g. the name and number of medications used, duration of use, the number of physicians prescribed drug, the number of potentially inappropriate medication use in elderly due to their background diseases and the number of potentially inappropriate medication used in an elderly group using the 2000 Beers criteria. A total of 308 (88%) elderly (170 women and 138 men) had taken at least one medication during the interview. Mean and range of age of the elderly were 70.8± 7.9 and 60-100 years, respectively. Mean and range of medications were 6.2±3.53 and 1-23 respectively had taken by among individuals older than age 60 in kashan. Prevalence of polypharmacy in related population was 54.5 % (167 cases) and 66 elderly people (21.4%) at least took one inappropriate drug among their medications. Polypharmacy among the Kashan elderly population is relatively high. Therefore, to decrease the number of prescribed medications and their related side effects in elderly individuals, applying up to date criteria in prescribing the medication for aged population is recommended.