A Quality Use of Medicines program for general practitioners and older people: a cluster randomised controlled trial

Prevalence of self-reported risk factors for medication misadventure among older people in general practice

OBJECTIVE

To describe the prevalence of risk factors for medication misadventures among older people in general practice.

DESIGN

Descriptive cross-sectional analysis.

SETTING

General practices, New South Wales, Australia.

PARTICIPANTS

Twenty general practitioners in 16 practices recruited 849 practice attendees aged 65 years and over.

OUTCOME MEASURE

Risk factors for medication misadventures.

RESULTS

Almost all participants (95%) had used at least one medication for more than 6 months. More than half of the participants had more than one doctor involved in their care (59%), had three or more health conditions (57%), or used five or more medicines (54%). With regard to potential adverse drug reactions, in the last month 39% of participants experienced difficulties sleeping, one-third felt drowsy or dizzy (34%), and about a quarter had a skin rash (28%), leaked urine (27%), had stomach problems (22%) or had been constipated (22%). The most common compliance problems were experiencing side effects (14%) and having difficulties opening bottles or packets/applying the medicine (10%).

CONCLUSION

Risk factors for medication misadventure remain a substantial problem among older people. A Medication Risk Assessment Form completed by patients can be used as an aid to increase general practitioners' awareness of a variety of problem areas associated with medication use in a compact way, and could be used as part of a system for medication review to determine whether actions are required to improve quality use of medicines.