Self-medication among the elderly population; a systematic review

Abstract

Background: The elderly population is at an increased risk of several diseases and is more prone to be affected by adverse drug reactions. Self-medication is a practice that involves the administration of non-prescribed medication. Although self-medication of some medicines can be safe and is accepted globally, it may result in severe complications, especially among elders, as the metabolism of drugs can be changed due to aging. It is necessary to understand and find out the prevalence rate of self-medication among the elderly population. Aim: We aimed to assess the prevalence of self-medication among the elderly population. Methods: We searched for articles related to the current subject by exploring Google Scholar and PubMed databases starting from 2015 to 2021. The searching process involved using various terms to obtain all related articles; the terms used were a combination of “Self-medication and elderly population,” “self-medication and prevalence,” “self-medication and elders,” and “prevalence of self-medication and elders.” The inclusion criteria included full-text original articles conducted on the elderly population and conducted between 2015 and 2021. Results: A total of 90 articles were obtained; however, only 8 articles were eligible for the inclusion criteria. The 8 studies were from Iran, India, and 14 European countries, and included a total number of 33,739 participants. Conclusion: Self-medication is highly prevalent among the elderly population, and analgesics were the most commonly used medications. The leading cause for self-medication was a headache, whereas the significant driver of self-medication was financial problems.