| |
Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
 | |
|
Over-the-counter medication use in an older rural community
— the MoVIES Project | | Author(s) | Gary P Stoehr, Mary Ganguli, Eric C Seaberg |
| Journal title | Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, vol 45, no 2, February 1997 |
| Pages | pp 158-165 |
| Keywords | Drugs ; Rural areas ; Projects ; Cross sectional surveys ; United States of America. |
| Annotation | The self-reported use of over-the-counter (OTC) drugs was examined as part of the Monongahela Valley Independent Elders Survey (MoVIES Project), an ongoing epidemiological study of an age-stratified sample of community-dwelling people aged 65 and over. Most (87%) were taking at least one OTC medication; 5.7% reported taking five or more OTCs; and women took significantly more than men. Most commonly used were analgesics (66.3% overall), antacids (27.9%), and laxatives (9.7%). Use of analgesics decreased significantly with increasing age, whereas use of laxatives increased significantly. There were no significant associations for overall OTC use with age or with the use of health services. However, although vitamin use was not associated with health services use, the use of laxatives was significantly associated with a greater number of physician visits, hospital treatment, home visits, and number of prescription medications. A substantial proportion of the older sample reported using a variety of OTC drugs, but unlike prescription drug use, overall OTC drug use was not associated with health service use. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-981005001 A |
| Classmark | LLD: RL: 3E: 3KB: 7T |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
|
| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
| |
|