Automedicación en adultos mayores del Centro de Especialidades Central Cuenca, 2019

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Older adults are vulnerable people and need the support of another person to perform some tasks due to the same physical and cognitive impairment. Self-medication in this age has a high percentage due to the lack of a person to accompany them. to the doctor when they present some ailment, another factor is the lack of money, so it becomes very tempting to self-medicate.

GENERAL OBJECTIVE: to determine self-medication in older adults in the Center of Specialty Central Cuenca, 2019.

METHODOLOGY: this is a cross-sectional descriptive study, with 227 older adults from the Centro de Especialidades Central Cuenca. The data were analyzed using SPSS version 22.0, descriptive analysis of the variables was done through frequencies and percentages. To assess whether there is a difference between the sexes in self-medication, the Chi square statistic was used.

RESULTS: women predominated, between 75 and 84 years old. The vast majority do not work, with incomplete primary, are generally married and of Catholic religion. Arterial hypertension, followed by diabetes mellitus, are the most frequent chronic diseases and they usually suffer from 6 to 10 years. They do not have most toxic habits. They self-medicate because the illness they suffer is not serious and they do so to reduce body aches, mainly. The drugs are purchased mainly in pharmacies. The source of information is mainly the relatives.

CONCLUSIONS: self-medication in these patients is high, since 74% self-medicate, especially women, although they report doing it with low frequency