Multimorbidity associated with polypharmacy and negative self-perception of health

<div><p>Abstract Objective: to verify the association between the multimorbidity of the elderly and sociodemographic variables, self-perception of health and polypharmacy. Method: a cross-sectional study was performed. The research data was collected using the Health, Well-Being and Aging questionnaire. The sample was composed of 676 people aged 60 years or more, who were residents of small towns in the north of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The dependent variable was multimorbidity, that is, the occurrence of two or more chronic non-communicable diseases in the same person. The independent variables were demographic, socioeconomic and health-related characteristics. Poisson’s raw and robust regression model was used to analyze the effect of the independent variables in relation to the outcome and p was considered significant when <0.05. Result: among the elderly interviewed, 45% presented multimorbidity, 51.1% reported a self-perception of poor/very poor health and 37.1% used polypharmacy. After the analysis was adjusted to the occurrence of multimorbidity, association with the following variables was found: health perception (regular/poor/very poor) PR=1.15 (CI95%; 1.09 - 1.22) and use of polypharmacy PR=1.29 (CI95%; 1.22 - 1.35). Conclusion: Multimorbidity may interfere negatively in the self-perception of health of the elderly contributing to increased medicine consumption.</p></div

Prevalence and factors associated with falls in elderly from Estação-RS: a cross-sectional population-based study

<p></p><p>Abstract Objective This study evaluated factors associated with falls in the elderly from Estação, Rio Grande do Sul. Method A cross‑sectional study with 418 elderly. Questionnaires included personal and family information: sex, age, race, who they live with, neighborhood, marital status and retirement. Health and life habit such as chronic pain, self-feeding, self-bathing, and get in/out of bed, up/down stairs, arthritis/arthrosis, hearing impairment, visual impairment, hypertension, rheumatism, osteoporosis and ischemia brain. The dependent variable was “occurrence of falls in the last 12 months preceding the interview.” Calculated for relative and absolute frequency for sample characteristic. We tested the association between the outcome and independent variables through the chi‑square test gross and multivariate analyzes using Poisson regression, estimating gross and adjusted prevalence ratios, calculated the confidence intervals of 95% to a p≤0.05. Results The prevalence of falls in the year preceding the survey was 63.8%. After multivariate analysis the following variables remained significantly associated: illiteracy (PR = 1,67), chronic pain (PR = 2,34) and cerebral ischemia (PR = 2,30). Conclusion The research presented a high prevalence of falls among the elderly and shows that the associated factors are modifiable and preventable.</p><p></p