1. Uses and perceptions of medications among French older adults: results from the 2020 French Health Barometer survey
- Author
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Anh Thi-Quynh Tran, Noémie Soullier, Joël Ankri, Marie Herr, Laure Carcaillon-Bentata, Centre de recherche en épidémiologie et santé des populations (CESP), Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines (UVSQ)-Assistance publique - Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) (AP-HP)-Hôpital Paul Brousse-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)-Université Paris-Saclay, Santé publique France - French National Public Health Agency [Saint-Maurice, France], Hôpital Raymond Poincaré [Garches], Assistance publique - Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP) (AP-HP), Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, Inserm, The authors are grateful to the French Health Barometer team of the French National Public Health Agency for their work and support. They also thank Solène Drusch, PhD Candidate at Université Paris-Saclay, UVSQ, INSERM, CESP, Anti-infective evasion and pharmacoepidemiology, for reviewing preliminary version of this paper., This study received no external funding. The French Health Barometer survey was funded by the French National Public Health Agency., and HAL UVSQ, Équipe
- Subjects
[SDV]Life Sciences [q-bio] ,Self Medication ,Health survey ,Health Surveys ,[SDV] Life Sciences [q-bio] ,Cross-Sectional Studies ,Older adults ,Polypharmacy ,Humans ,Perceptions ,Female ,France ,Self-medication ,Geriatrics and Gerontology ,Aged - Abstract
Background There are few studies reporting on self-medication, perceptions or difficulties older adults have with their medications. This study aimed to describe the uses and the perceptions of medications among older adults in France and to identify patient groups based on that information. Methods We used data from the 2020 ‘French Health Barometer’ – a nationally-representative cross-sectional survey. We assessed polypharmacy (five or more medications), self-medication, and patient perceptions of medications. Robust Poisson regression was used to investigate socio-demographic and health-related factors associated with the outcomes. Latent class analysis was used to identify patient groups classified by the use and the perceptions of medications. Factors associated with group assignment were investigated by multinomial logistic regression. All analyses were weighted. Results The study sample comprised 1,623 respondents aged 70–85 years. Polypharmacy and self-medication were reported in 23.5 and 48.7% of the older population, respectively. Polypharmacy was associated with increasing age, low education, and impaired health status. Self-medication was associated with female sex and high education. Among individuals taking at least 1 medication, 8.2% reported not to understand all their medications, and 9.7% having difficulty taking medications as prescribed. Among individuals taking at least 2 medications, 23.2% thought that they took too many medications. Three patient groups were identified: ‘Non-polypharmacy, positive perceptions’ (62.5%), ‘Polypharmacy, positive perceptions’ (28.0%), and ‘Negative perceptions’ (9.5%). Conclusions Polypharmacy and self-medication are common in French older adults. One segment of people reported negative perceptions of their medications regardless of their polypharmacy status. This underlines the difference between the objective and perceived measures of polypharmacy.
- Published
- 2022