Older people's knowledge of the purpose of drugs prescribed at primary
care appointments
Abstract
Rationale, aims and objectives: Patient adherence to medication is
related to successful pharmacotherapy; however, many patients do not
take their medications as prescribed because of poor understanding of
their purpose.This study aimed to assess older people’s knowledge of the
purpose of drugs prescribed at medical appointments in primary care
units and the possible factors related to their level of knowledge about
their medications. Method: This was a cross-sectional study conducted in
22 basic health units in Brazil. Older people from this sample who were
treated in a primary care setting were interviewed after a consultation
with a family practice physician. Data were collected from September
2016 to March 2019. Patients aged ≥ 60 years who visited the primary
care units were included in the study (n = 674). Knowledge of prescribed
medications was assessed by comparing the responses to the questionnaire
and the medication and prescription information. Multivariate analyses
were conducted using a Poisson regression with robust variance. Results:
The mean age of the sample was 70.1 (standard deviation: ± 7.1) years.
Among 674 patients, 272 (40.4%) did not know the indication of at least
one of their prescribed drugs; among them 78 (11.6%) did not know the
indication of any of their prescribed drugs. In the final multivariate
analysis, polypharmacy, illiteracy, and cognitive impairment were found
to be associated with misunderstanding the purpose of at least one
prescribed drug. Moreover, illiteracy and cognitive impairment were
associated with a greater misunderstanding of the purpose of all
prescribed drugs. Conclusions: In the studied sample, patients
demonstrated a high rate of misunderstanding of the purpose of
prescribed drugs. Therefore, it is necessary for health services and
professionals to implement strategies that increase the quality of the
guidance and instructions given to older people in order to promote
adherence to treatment.