Medication taking behaviors in the high- and low-functioning elderly: MacArthur field studies of successful aging.
Journal Article
Objective
To describe and compare medication-taking behaviors in the high- and low-functioning elderly living in the community.Design
A cross-sectional design with data collected by interview.Setting
The study included 5 counties in the southern Piedmont area of North Carolina.Participants
Respondents included 242 elderly aged 70-79 years selected from the Piedmont Health Survey of the Elderly and the MacArthur Research Program on Successful Aging.Main outcome measures
Outcome measures included strategies used to remember to take drugs, reasons given for skipping medications, factors associated with understanding of drugs, the number of over-the-counter and prescribed drugs used, and the number of drugs used in therapeutic categories.Results
Low-functioning elderly white respondents took greater numbers of prescribed drugs than did blacks or high-functioning whites. Respondents had a better understanding of prescribed than of over-the-counter drugs, with the poorest understanding of nutritional supplements. Men and blacks had poorer understanding of drugs than women and whites. The strategies subjects used to remember to take drugs included (from most to least frequently used): making it a routine activity, reading labels, a self-devised memory aid, a habit, being reminded by someone else, sorting, and noticing symptoms.Conclusions
Clinicians should provide their patients with information about over-the-counter agents as well as prescribed drugs, be alert to cues that blacks and men give indicating their need for additional explanation about a drug's purposes, and be sensitive to differential prescribing patterns with respect to race. When planning a regimen for multiple doses of a drug, clinicians should account for their patients' tendencies to use routine activities as memory prompts.Full Text
Duke Authors
Cited Authors
- Wallsten, SM; Sullivan, RJ; Hanlon, JT; Blazer, DG; Tyrey, MJ; Westlund, R
Published Date
- April 1995
Published In
Volume / Issue
- 29 / 4
Start / End Page
- 359 - 364
PubMed ID
- 7633011
Pubmed Central ID
- 7633011
Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)
- 1542-6270
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN)
- 1060-0280
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
- 10.1177/106002809502900403
Language
- eng