title: [The relationship of the compliance with medical drug treatment to social and functional factors and to the cognitive status of the elderly population seeking care].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We try to relate the compliance to sociodemographic factors as well as with the cognitive, functional and sensorial status; and with characteristics of the medication to take.
  
  
  METHODS
  Descriptive, cross-sectional study with a month observational window. SITE: Our primary care health district.
  
  
  METHODS
  We admitted elders who came to our primary care set, aged 70 or more, random-selected and stratified for age and sex. We exclude those who were travellers in our district and those included in home-care program.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We measured medication compliance using pill counts, in those medicines in regular regime for a month or more. We measured as compliance index a mean of the deviation of the different adherence index from one, scoring good adherence when that index was < or = 0.1. Non-compliance was mainly related to cognitive impairment (p = 0.0008).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Patients with poor functional status are at high potential risk coming from polypharmacy. We need much medication control and compliance assessment in these patients.
authors.affiliation: EAP Las Margaritas, Getafe, Madrid.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: O'Dogherty Caramé
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Morell Sixto
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Molero Portolés
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Martínez Alvaro
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Martín Sanjuán
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: López Morán
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004358:Drug Therapy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019954:Neurobehavioral Manifestations; D010349:Patient Compliance; D011581:Psychological Tests; D012307:Risk Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D013030:Spain; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric