title: [Prevalence of multiple medication and cardiovascular risk in patients over 65 years].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe the prevalence of multiple medication in patients over 65 years.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sevilla and Jerez-Costa North-West Primary Health Care Districts.
  
  
  METHODS
  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.
  
  
  METHODS
  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.
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Farmacia, Distrito de Atención Primaria Sevilla, Servicio Andaluz de Salud, Sevilla, España. mariat.molina.sspa@juntadeandalucia.es
authors.forename: Teresa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Molina López
authors.forename: María de la O
authors.initials: Mde L
authors.lastname: Caraballo Camacho
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Palma Morgado
authors.forename: Soledad
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: López Rubio
authors.forename: Juan Carlos
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Domínguez Camacho
authors.forename: Juan Carlos
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Morales Serna
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019338:Polypharmacy; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors