Drug consumption in a group of elderly residents of a nursing home: relationship to cognitive impairment and disability.
OBJECTIVES: The incidence of drug interactions and adverse reactions increases exponentially with increases in the number of medications consumed. The objective of this study was to investigate drug consumption, in particular nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), and to assess the relationship between drug consumption and cognitive function and disability in a group of older people residing in a nursing home. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: Two-hundred residents (108 women, 92 men) of a nursing home in Ankara, Turkey, mean age 77.2 +/- 8.7 years (range, 60-98), were included in the study. Data were obtained about sociodemographic variables and drug consumption, and the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Functional Independence Measure (FIM) were used to assess the cognitive and functional status. RESULTS: The majority (94.4% of men and 80.4% of women) were prescribed at least one drug, with a mean of 3.59 prescriptions prescribed to women 2.39 to men. The mean number of self-prescribed drugs used by the elderly was higher than found in previous studies. Although there was not a statistically significant difference in regard to socioeconomic status and self-prescribed drug usage, we found a significant positive correlation between nonprescribed drug use and the scores of FIM and MMSE (P < 0.05). The drugs self-prescribed most commonly were NSAIDs, with a rate of 72.5%. CONCLUSION: This study found high drug consumption correlated with poor cognitive and functional status in elderly residents of a nursing home.