Investigation of Polypharmacy and Rational Prescribing in Elderly Patients in a Health Centre of Nicosia, Cyprus

Abstract

This paper is an attempt to study in-depth polypharmacy in the elderly population of a health center in Strovolos, Nicosia, Cyprus, and its association with various factors influencing it. Motivation for the preparation of this research was the knowledge of the severity of polypharmacy observed in several countries worldwide, including Cyprus, both in terms of health and the economy. In this sense, the main purpose was to investigate and assess the prevalence of polypharmacy in elderly patients, over 65 years of age, visiting Strovolos Health Centre, Nicosia. Specific objective aims were to attempt to find ways to address and reduce polypharmacy, by controlling the issuing of prescriptions, as well as the reason for visits by the elderly patients to the Health Centre. For the completion of this study, polypharmacy was established as the concomitant intake of five or more medications from the patient simultaneously. The sample included 350 elderly patients, over 65 years of age, who came for examination at the Strovolos’ Health Centre during the period July to September 2011. A simple random sampling was selected among many patients that visited the author’s and her other three colleagues offices’, who worked in the same health centre. An appropriate questionnaire was designed to record the basic data, which included questions aiming to determine the rate of polypharmacy. According to the statistical results, 54.6% consumes more than five different drugs which can be regarded as polypharmacy and the majority (58.6%) of patients requests drugs that are not prescribed for their chronic condition. There is a serious problem of polypharmacy in elderly