[Depressive symptoms as a risk factor for polypharmacy in patients over 60 years of age].

Objective: To determine the association between depressive symptoms not identified by the family physician and polypharmacy in patients over 60 years old.

Methods: A case-control design with non-probabilistic sampling.

Inclusion Criteria: > or = 60 years old both sexes, without disease or with one disease-balanced illness, and with reliable recording in chart by the last 12 month.

Exclusion Criteria: cognitive deterioration, obstructive chronic lung disease, cardiopathy, infarct record, alcoholism, smoking addiction and functional dependence's. Elimination criteria: depression's previous diagnoses and hospitalization during a year before the study. The cases were patients who have simultaneously received 4 o more pharmacologic prescriptions in 5 of 6 last medical visits. The controls were patients who have simultaneously received 3 o less pharmacologic prescriptions in 5 of 6 last medical visits. Depressive symptoms: grading > or = 6 (Yesavage and Brink scale).

Results: 200 patients per group, aged 69 +/- 6 years agreed to participate. Logistics regression (OR;CI(95%)): hypertension (6.0;3.6-10.3), diabetes mellitus type 2 (3.7;2.3-5.9), depression (2.1;1.2-3.4), and female sex (1.7;1.1-2.7).

Conclusions: Hypertension, diabetes mellitus type 2, depressive symptoms not identified by the family physician, and female sex are risk factors for polypharmacy in the elderly.