Medication use by ambulatory elderly. An in-home survey.

The elderly residents of an urban subsidized apartment building were interviewed in their apartments to determine a comprehensive medication profile. The interviews were conducted by doctor of pharmacy candidates, and 155 residents (81.2%) participated. Compliance was similar to rates previously reported (49.3%), and adverse drug reactions were common (29.1%). Other findings included: compliance did not decrease with advancing age; most elderly individuals could open child-resistant containers (83.4%), read standard container labels (79.7%), and identify teaspoon (97.3%) and tablespoon (88.5%) quantities; inability to open easy-open (flip-off) containers decreased compliance (P = .03); men were more compliant than women (68.4 v 42.4%, P = .006) but were taking fewer medications (3.3 per male v 5.0 per female); only 12.6% of respondents thought they were taking too much medication but when they did compliance diminished (P = .003); medications were infrequently shared (5.6% of respondents reported sharing); and only 6.4% of respondents reported medication expense as a concern.