[Prevalence of multiple medication and cardiovascular risk in patients over 65 years].

Objective: To describe the prevalence of multiple medication in patients over 65 years.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting: Sevilla and Jerez-Costa North-West Primary Health Care Districts.

Participants: Patients older than 65 years randomly chosen from district databases. Patients in nursing homes, with major mental disease, or end-of- life situations were excluded.

Main Measurements: Multiple medication was defined as a prescription of five or more drugs during the last six months. We assessed the medication used by clinical health records audit. Other characteristics were studied by interviewing a subsample of patients.

Results: A total of 2,919 clinical health records from 14 centres were reviewed. The prevalence of multiple medication was 49.6% (95% CI: 47.7-51.4) with a range from 33% (95% CI: 26.8-39.3) to 82% (95% CI: 74,3-89,7) between centres. The large majority of patients (90.2% [95% CI: 88.7-91.8]) of patients showed criteria to be included in Cardiovascular Risk Health Care Process. Interviewed patients confirmed taking an average of 8.7 drugs (95% CI: 8.4-9.0). Among them, 83.2% (95% CI: 78.9-87.4) were high cardiovascular risk patients.

Conclusions: Prevalence of multiple medication in patients over 65 years is about 50% with wide variations between centres. The number of drugs per patient ratio was close to eight. A large majority of them were high risk cardiovascular patients.