Clinical Investigation

The Prevalance of Chronic disease and Drug Use of the Olders Living in Nursing Home

  • Ayla Ünsal
  • Gökçe Demir
  • Ayden Çoban Özkan
  • Gülşah Gürol Arslan

Received Date: 28.07.2011 Accepted Date: 30.09.2011 Meandros Med Dent J 2011;12(3):5-10

OBJECTIVE:

This study was conducted for the purpose of determining the prevalence of the chronic disease and drug use of the elderly living in nursing home.

MATERIALS and METHODS:

Data had obtained from 126 individuals at three nursing home in two cities in Turkey between October and December 2009. A questionnaire form developed by the researchers was used as the data gathering tool. For analysis of data, percentage and Chi-square had been used.

RESULTS:

81.7% of the elderly had at least one diagnosed chronic disease. The most frequently diagnosed disease was hypertension (22.3%). The elderly used prescribed (75.4%), prescribed-over the counter (7.9%), both prescribed and prescribed-over the counter (5.6%). The elderly said that we didn't used drug (11.1%). The most frequently used drugs were antihypertensive (26.4%), antirheumatismal (23.5%), antidiabetic and cardiovascular (8.8%) drugs. Analgesics were the most used drugs as over the counter. Four-five percent only of elderly had complained about the side effects of the drugs such as stomach fewer, diarrhea, xerostomia, and vertigo. No association was found among having chronic disease and age, gender (p>0.05).

CONCLUSION:

The elderly living in nursing home were trained about chronic disease management and drug use.

Keywords: Aged, nursing homes, chronic disease, drug