Nivel del conocimiento de los adultos mayores del Centro de Atención al Adulto Mayor del I.E.S.S. sobre sus medicamentos. Cuenca 2017

Abstract

BACKGROUND The knowledge of the therapeutic objective (TO), process of use (PU), safety in the management (SM) and conservation of the medicines (CM) that the elderly consume is vital to avoid comorbidities associated with the use of drugs. OBJECT Determine the level of knowledge of the elderlies who attended to the Centro de Atención al Adulto Mayor del IESS MATERIALS AND METHODS An observational, cross-sectional and correlational study was conducted on 212 older adults in January, 2018. The sample was representative, randomized and its size was calculated with a confidence level of 95%, power of 80%, and precision of 5%. A form consisting of 4 sections was applied: a) informed consent, b) independent variables of the study, c) scales of basic (ABVD) and instrumental (AIVD) activities of the daily life and d) questionnaire validated to determine the level of knowledge. The characteristics of the participants were described and a prediction model of lack of knowledge about medicines was constructed, using the software SPSS 24. RESULTS The best known dimension was CM (77.70%), followed by TO (71.80%), PU (63.1%) and SM (20.4%). The level of knowledge about TO, PU and SM decreases at an older age, at low levels of instruction, with polypharmacy, with independence in ABVD and some level of dependency in ABVD. The significant variables by dimension were: TO, number of prescribed medications and ABVD functionality; PU: level of instruction, age range and ABVD functionality; SM: instructional level and CM: sex and ABVD functionality.