Poly-pharmacy is defined as the concurrent use of five or more\nmedications and is critical in individuals with multiple chronic\nmedical conditions. There are many factors affecting the incidence\nof poly-pharmacy. This study will assess the relationship between\npoly-pharmacy and factors such as age, gender, level of education,\nnumber of medications, drug interactions and comorbidities in\nelderly patients.\nMethod: This is a single-center retrospective cohort study\nconducted in a tertiary hospital in the United Arab Emirates.\nResults: A majority of 237 patients aged from 60 to 69 years with\naverage of 67�± SEM years were included in this study. A total of 89%\nof the participated patients were taking more than five medications\nand exposed to at least one poly-pharmacy episode according to its\ndefinition. It was revealed in this study that a greater exposure to\npoly-pharmacy can lead to co-morbidities. The relationship between\nage-groups and drug interactions was also measured in this study.\nThe number of drug interactions increased with increasing the\nnumber of medications taking by elderly patients. Moreover, the\nmale subjects were more frequently exposed to poly-pharmacy and\nwere found to have a greater number of co-morbidities than their\ncounterpart female subjects. Nevertheless, the highest interventions\nfrom healthcare professionals were on patients taking multiple\nmedications and aged 60 to 69 and 70 to79 years.\nConclusions: This study is additional evidence that the\nprevalence of poly-pharmacy is widespread among elderly patients.\nEvaluating the relationship between poly-pharmacy and other factors\nsuch as age, gender, level of education, number of medications,\ndrug-drug interactions, interventions and co-morbidities revealed\nthat there is a clear relationship. Therefore, educational programs\ntargeting primary care physicians, other healthcare professionals\nand elderly patients should be developed in hospital settings.
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