The relationship of the compliance with medical drug treatment to social and functional factors and to the cognitive status of the elderly population seeking care
O'Dogherty Caramé, P.; Morell Sixto, E.; Molero Portolés, D.; Martínez Alvaro, C.; Martín Sanjuán, C.; López Morán, S.
Atencion Primaria 20(6): 324-328
1997
ISSN/ISBN: 0212-6567 PMID: 9424165 Document Number: 474564
We try to relate the compliance to sociodemographic factors as well as with the cognitive, functional and sensorial status; and with characteristics of the medication to take. Descriptive, cross-sectional study with a month observational window. SITE: Our primary care health district. We admitted elders who came to our primary care set, aged 70 or more, random-selected and stratified for age and sex. We exclude those who were travellers in our district and those included in home-care program. We measured medication compliance using pill counts, in those medicines in regular regime for a month or more. We measured as compliance index a mean of the deviation of the different adherence index from one, scoring good adherence when that index was < or = 0.1. Non-compliance was mainly related to cognitive impairment (p = 0.0008). Patients with poor functional status are at high potential risk coming from polypharmacy. We need much medication control and compliance assessment in these patients.