title: Polypharmacy in the elderly: a multicenter study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim of this study was to evaluate the polypharmacy issue and its correlations with socioeconomic variables in Turkish elderly patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional
  
  
  METHODS
  Outpatient clinics of the medical schools, departments of physical medicine and rehabilitation from 12 provinces.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 1430 elderly in different geographical regions of Turkey during January 2007 to January 2008 were included.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients were interviewed using a questionnaire that included demographic characteristics, current medical diagnosis, and pharmaceuticals that are used by elderly. Demographical parameters were gender, age, marital status, number of children, level of education, province, and status of retirement.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean number of drugs was found to be higher in the females. There was a significant difference among age groups, marital status groups, and the number of children categories. The distribution of the number of drugs among education levels did not differ significantly, whereas the distribution of the number of drugs between the status of retirement and presence of chronic disease differed significantly.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Polypharmacy is correlated with various factors including age, sex, marital status, number of children, status of retirement, and presence of chronic medical conditions but not educational status in our study group.
authors.affiliation: Hacettepe University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Ankara, Turkey. ykutsal@hacettepe.edu.tr
authors.forename: Yesim
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Gokce Kutsal
authors.forename: Anil
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Barak
authors.forename: Ayce
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Atalay
authors.forename: Terken
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Baydar
authors.forename: Selcuk
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kucukoglu
authors.forename: Tiraje
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tuncer
authors.forename: Sami
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hizmetli
authors.forename: Nigar
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Dursun
authors.forename: Sibel
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Eyigor
authors.forename: Merih
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Saridogan
authors.forename: Hatice
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bodur
authors.forename: Ferhan
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Canturk
authors.forename: Ayse
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Turhanoglu
authors.forename: Sule
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Arslan
authors.forename: Aynur
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Basaran
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019338:Polypharmacy; D012923:Social Class; D014421:Turkey