| Revista INFAD 2012 |
ISSN EDICIÓN EN PAPEL: 0214-9877 |
| Nº2, Vol. 1, pp. 43-58 | doi: en trámite |
 Ver PDF |
Qualidade de vida e os medicamentos nos idosos hipertensos.
Esperança Maria Simões da Silva, Orquídea Ribeiro, Emanuel Ponciano Mourisca Moreira Lopes,
Maria Margarida Duarte Ramos. pp. 43-58
Abstract
The elderly are main consumers of drugs, as their cautious and rational use to be the key to a bet-ter quality of life (QOL). However, the high prevalence of several chronic diseases concurrently in the same individual leads to a risk of polypharmacy with adverse consequences, such as the difficulty of adherence to treatment. this study sought to determine the prescribed therapy, adherence to therapy, anxiety and depression, and QOL of the elderly. A prospective study was performed in 1039 hyper-tensive patients over 65 years, recruited from pharmacies, that answered a standardized questionnai-re. Patients were treated with an average of 5.7 different drugs and had 6:34 tablets per day. The total intake of daily drugs and the number of tablets per day were higher in females The antihypertensive therapy involved on average two types of drugs. Noteworthy is the group of psychoactive drugs (41%), benzodiazepines (37%) of lipid-lowering agents (40%), statins (36%) and oral antidiabetics (20%). It was found out a anxious population but not depressed, with high consumption of psycho-tropic drugs. QOL was considered average to good. There were no adherence to therapy in 37% of patients using the Morisky-Green test, despite the high forgetfulness and experiences with therapy.
Keywords: Elderly, polypharmacy, quality of life, adherence, hypertension.
