POLYPHARMACY PREVALENCE AMONG GERIATRIC PATIENTS IN PRIMARY HEALTHCARE SETTINGS ACROSS TURKEY: A CROSS-SECTIONAL ANALYSIS THROUGH THE NATIONWIDE PRESCRIPTION INFORMATION SYSTEM

Abstract

Introduction: Polypharmacy has become a common health problem as populations age. We aimed to determine the prevalence of chronic and cumulative polypharmacy in the geriatric population using primary healthcare services in Turkey.

Materials and Methods: The electronic prescriptions ordered by family physicians across Turkey for geriatric patients (>= 6.5 years) in the Prescription Information System during 2018 were studied. Chronic polypharmacy criteria were proportion of patients who were given prescriptions containing >= 5 drugs four or more times during a year. Cumulative polypharmacy was defined as proportion of patients who were prescribed >= 5 drugs with different ATC4 codes in a month or in each quarter of the year.

Results: Turkey's total population is 82 million; 7,186,204 are aged 65 and over, constituting 8.8% of the total. Of this geriatric population, 6,104,798 (85.0%) had at least one prescription in 2018. Each geriatric patient had 6.4 prescriptions, with each prescription containing an average of 2.9 drugs with different fourth-level Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical codes. Each drug was prescribed in 2.7 boxes on average. Of these prescribed patients, 14.3% received prescriptions containing >= 5 drugs four or more times during 2018. The percentage of patients who received at least one prescription per month containing >= 5 drugs ranged between 16.4% and 20.7%. The most commonly prescribed drugs were acetylsalicylic acid, diclofenac, paracetamol, and pantoprazole.

Conclusion: Polypharmacy is a critical health problem among geriatric population in Turkey as in other industrialized countries. Educating physicians as well as the public is essential to overcome polypharmacy.