Background
The use of multiple medicines is very frequent among the elderly, allowing them to perceive more often adverse side effects from drugs and present undesirable drug interactions.
Methods
This article presents a cross-sectional survey about the use of medicines among 300 elderly Brazilians, equally divided into institutionalized and community-dwelling groups.
Results
The average daily intake of medicines is 3.2 among institutionalized elderly, a higher (p
Conclusion
In this Brazilian elderly sample, the most widely used medicines were antihypertensives, diuretics, and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and institutionalized used more medications than community-dwelling elderly.