Alcohol and Medication Use Among Elderly Community-dwelling Brazilians

Background: Alcohol consumption among the elderly remains understudied, but alcohol interaction with the great amount of medicines taken by this age group could be a serious health problem. The aim of this study was to evaluate alcohol consumption and medicines used by an elderly sample from Pindamonhangaba, Brazil. Methods: In a cross-sectional study, a representative sample of 123 elderly individuals (61.0% women) was interviewed by using the Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT) to verify alcohol consumption. The medicines used by the sample were also surveyed. Results: It was noted that the vast majority of respondents was classified as “low-risk consumption” (99.2%), followed by “harmful consumption”(0.8%). Alcohol dependency was not found. The average number of medicines used was 2.5 (± 1.3) medications/day. Regarding the distribution of medicines used by the elderly in this sample, the most used was captopril (33.3%), followed by acetylsalicylic acid (AAS) and hydrochlorothiazide (17.1%), and metformin (10.6%). With regard to the pharmacological class of medications used, the most used were antihypertensives (50.4%), diuretics (20.3%), and antidiabetic agents (13.8%). Only 13% of used medicines were considered inappropriate to the elderly, by Beers-Fick criteria. Conclusion: Harmful consumption of alcohol in the evaluated sample was very low. The average of used medicines (2.5 medicines/day) was similar to those obtained previously in elderly populations in the same region, with relatively low use of inappropriate drugs for the elderly.

Abstract licence: CC BY-NC-ND

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