| A national census of medicines use: a 24-hour snapshot of Australians aged 50 years and older. | |
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MedLine Citation:
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PMID: 22256935 Owner: NLM Status: In-Data-Review |
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
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OBJECTIVE: To explore the current use of conventional and complementary medicines in Australians aged ≥ 50 years. DESIGN, SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Cross-sectional postal survey sent to a random sample of 4500 Australians aged ≥ 50 years between June 2009 and February 2010. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Prevalence of medicines use, reasons for medicines use and sources of medicines. RESULTS: Response rate was 37.3%. Medicines use was very common; 87.1% of participants took one or more medicines and 43.3% took five or more in the previous 24 hours. Complementary medicines were used by 46.3% of participants, 87.4% of whom used both conventional and complementary medicines. The most commonly used medicines were antihypertensive agents (43.2% of participants), natural marine and animal products including fish oil and glucosamine (32.4%) and lipid-lowering agents (30.4%). Doctors recommended 79.3% of all medicines and 93.0% of conventional medicines. Pharmacists commonly recommended occasional medicines (ie, as needed), while friends, family and media most often influenced use of complementary medicines. CONCLUSIONS: The use of multiple medicines is common and higher than reported in the 1995 National Health Survey. Today, much medicines use is to prevent future disease by influencing risk factors. High levels of polypharmacy highlight the need to support the safe and effective use of medicines in the community. Although doctors recommend or prescribe most medicines, self-directed medication use is common. This highlights the need for consumer access to accurate information and strategies to improve health literacy about medicines. |
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Authors:
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Tessa K Morgan; Margaret Williamson; Marie Pirotta; Kay Stewart; Stephen P Myers; Joanne Barnes |
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Publication Detail:
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Type: Journal Article |
Journal Detail:
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Title: The Medical journal of Australia Volume: 196 ISSN: 1326-5377 ISO Abbreviation: Med. J. Aust. Publication Date: 2012 Jan |
Date Detail:
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Created Date: 2012-01-19 Completed Date: - Revised Date: - |
Medline Journal Info:
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Nlm Unique ID: 0400714 Medline TA: Med J Aust Country: Australia |
Other Details:
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Languages: eng Pagination: 50-3 Citation Subset: IM |
Affiliation:
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National Prescribing Service, Sydney, NSW, Australia. tmorgan@nps.org.au. |
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From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine
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