Aim:
Frailty has become an important health issue in recent years. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between frailty and medicine use and polypharmacy in people over 65 years of age.
Methods:
Patients aged 65 years and over, who were admitted to family medicine outpatient clinics, were included in the study. The Tilburg frailty indicator, timed up and go test and gait speed test were used. Multivariate linear and logistic regression model were conducted.
Results:
Individuals, who used five or more medicines (polypharmacy) daily, constituted 49.1% of all participants. 55.6% of patients on polypharmacy were frail. Gender (β=-0.560, 95% Cl=-0.943-0.177) and the number of chronic diseases (β=1.496, 95% Cl=1.376-1.616) were found to have an effect on the total number of medicines. According to the results of logistic regression analysis on polypharmacy; female gender (aOR=3.4, 95% Cl=1.412-8.639), living alone (single/divorced/widowed) (aOR=2.8, 95% Cl=1.133-7.201) and number of chronic diseases (aOR=6.8, 95% Cl=4.218-11.075) were significantly associated with increased risk of polypharmacy.
Conclusion:
A significant increase in frailty score and reduction in walking speeds were detected in patients aged 65 years and over on polypharmacy. It should be kept in mind that polypharmacy is significantly related with frailty in elderly patients.
Keywords: Frailty, polypharmacy, medicine, walking speed