Özet:

Introduction and Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate the prescribed medications and the reasons for applying to the hospital in elderly patients. Method and Requirements: A single-centric, retrospective study was conducted using medical records of elderly patients (≥65 years of age) who applied to the district clinic between November and December 2013. The demographic characteristics, diagnoses and prescribed medications of patients were taken to be assessed. The study included 293 elderly patients (152 women, 141 men) who were applied to the clinic. The average age for male patients was 72.15±7.1 and for female patients 71.84±5.2. Only 2 percent of patients had no health insurance. The most frequently applied causes to the hospital were, respectively, irritable abdominal syndrome (%12,6), abdominal and/or pelvic pain (%11,6), gastro-özefageal reflux (%9,8), essential hypertension (%8,5), benign thyroid neoplasm (%7,7) and non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (%7) respectively. Nearly half of the patients did not take any medication, while 8.8 percent were prescribed five or more medications. The total number of prescribed medications was 473 and varied from 0 to 9 per patient. The most frequently prescribed medications were cardiovascular medications (20,2%), nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications (16,7%), and gastrointestinal medications (14,1%). RESULTS: The results of our study show that the use of cardiovascular medications and pain is quite common in older patients. A multidisciplinary approach to pain control should be used, not only in drug treatment. A careful history and physical therapy are important to prevent polypharmacy and unnecessary drug use in the elderly.

Anahtar Kelimeler: