Dataset Information

Cost-related underuse of medications in older adults: ELSI-Brazil.

ABSTRACT: OBJECTIVE:To assess the prevalence and factors associated with cost-related underuse of medications in a nationally representative sample of Brazilians aged 50 years and over. METHODS:Among the 9,412 participants of the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Aging (ELSI-Brazil), 6,014 reported using at least one medication on regular basis and were included in the analysis. Underuse of medications was by stopping taking or reducing the number of tablets or the dose of any prescribed medication for financial reasons. The theoretical framework used for the selection of the exploratory variables included predisposing factors, enabling factors, and factors of need. Associations were tested by Poisson regression. RESULTS:The prevalence of underuse of medications was 10.6%. After adjustments for relevant covariables, positive and statistically significant associations (p < 0.05) with the outcome were found for females [prevalence ratio (PR) = 1.39], sufficiency of the family income for expenses (PR = 1.74 for sometimes and PR 2.42 for never), frequency with which the physician explains about the disease and treatment (PR = 1.31 for rarely or never), number of medications used (PR = 1.39 for 2-4 and 1.53 for 5 or more), fair (PR = 2.02) and poor or very poor self-rated health (PR = 2.92), and a previous medical diagnosis of depression (PR = 1.69). Negative associations were observed for the age groups of 60-79 years (PR = 0.75) and 80 years and over (PR = 0.43), socioeconomic status of the household (PR = 0.70, 0.79, and 0.60 for the second, third, and fourth quartile, respectively), and private health plan coverage (PR = 0.79). There were no associations between hypertension and self-reported diabetes and underuse of medications. CONCLUSIONS:Cost-related underuse of medications is multidimensional and complex, and it covers socio-demographic characteristics, health conditions, and the use of health services. The explanation about the disease and its treatment to the patient and the expansion of the universal access to pharmaceutical care can minimize the risks of underuse.

SUBMITTER: Loyola Filho AI

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6255256 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Cost-related underuse of medications in older adults: ELSI-Brazil.

Loyola Filho Antônio Ignácio de AI Firmo Josélia Oliveira Araújo JOA Mambrini Juliana Vaz de Melo JVM Peixoto Sérgio Viana SV Souza Junior Paulo Roberto Borges de PRB Andrade Fabíola Bof de FB Lima-Costa Maria Fernanda MF Acúrcio Francisco de Assis FA

Revista de saude publica 20181025 Suppl 2

<h4>Objective</h4>To assess the prevalence and factors associated with cost-related underuse of medications in a nationally representative sample of Brazilians aged 50 years and over.<h4>Methods</h4>Among the 9,412 participants of the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Aging (ELSI-Brazil), 6,014 reported using at least one medication on regular basis and were included in the analysis. Underuse of medications was by stopping taking or reducing the number of tablets or the dose of any prescribed medi ...[more]

PMID: 30379284

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Project description:BACKGROUND:Research on discrimination and health focused on older adults has been scarce, comparatively with younger and middle-aged adults. Considering where people live matters, accurate measures of perceived discrimination might consider how the place of residence interferes on discriminatory experiences. This study aimed to assess the association between perceived discrimination and urban/rural place of residence among a representative sample of older adults in Brazil. METHODS:Data came from the baseline of the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Aging (ELSI-Brazil), conducted in 2015/2016, with individuals aged 50 years and older. Perceived Discrimination was measured by means of the following question: "In the past 12 months have you felt a victim of any type of discrimination" with five possible answers: (1)"when you sought medical services or health care?", (2)"in social gatherings?", (3)"in the work place?", (4)"within the family?", (5)"due to where you live?". Participants who answered yes for any of the five domains were coded as having reported an experience of discrimination. The main exposure variable was the urban-rural classification of the households, carried out according to the methods employed by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics during the 2010 Population Census. Other covariates included: age, sex, skin color, household wealth and education. Multiple Poisson regression was used to estimate prevalence ratios and their respective 95% confidence interval for the association between discrimination and independent variables. RESULTS:Prevalence of any perceived discrimination among Brazilian older adults was 16.8%. Regardless the place of residence (either urban or rural), participants reported health care settings as the most common domain where discriminatory experiences occurred and the work place as the least common. According to the adjusted model, perceived discrimination was significantly higher among urban dwellers when compared to their rural counterparts, independent of sociodemographic characteristics, health status and neighborhood social environment. The outcome was significant associated with skin color, education and health status. CONCLUSIONS:Urban environment plays a core role in perceived discrimination and health care settings constitute the most common domain where discriminatory experiences occurred. Our findings may contribute to fulfill the knowledge gap on discrimination among older adults living in developing countries.

Project description:It is well-documented that the financial burden of out-of-pocket expenditures for prescription drugs often leads people with medication-sensitive chronic illnesses to restrict their use of these medications. Less is known about the extent to which such cost-related medication underuse is associated with increases in subsequent hospitalizations and deaths.We compared the risk of hospitalizations among 5401 and of death among 6135 middle-aged and elderly adults with one or more cardiovascular diseases (diabetes, coronary artery disease, heart failure, and history of stroke) according to whether participants did or did not report restricting prescription medications because of cost.A retrospective biannual cohort study across 4 cross-sectional waves of the Health and Retirement Study, a nationally representative survey of adults older than age 50. Using multivariate logistic regression to adjust for baseline differences in sociodemographic and health characteristics, we assessed subsequent hospitalizations and deaths between 1998 and 2006 for respondents who reported that they had or had not taken less medicine than prescribed because of cost.Respondents with cardiovascular disease who reported underusing medications due to cost were significantly more likely to be hospitalized in the next 2 years, even after adjusting for other patient characteristics (adjusted predicted probability of 47% compared with 38%, P < 0.001). The more survey waves respondents reported cost-related medication underuse during 1998 to 2004, the higher the probability of being hospitalized in 2006 (adjusted predicted probability of 54% among respondents reporting cost-related medication underuse in all 4 survey waves compared with 42% among respondents reporting no underuse, P < 0.001). There was no independent association of cost-related medication underuse with death.In this nationally representative cohort, middle-aged and elderly adults with cardiovascular disease who reported cutting back on medication use because of cost were more likely to report being hospitalized over a subsequent 2-year period after they had reported medication underuse. The more extensively respondents reported cost-related underuse over time, the higher their adjusted predicted probability of subsequent hospitalization.

Project description:ObjectivesVaccine hesitancy may represent a barrier to effective COVID-19 immunisation campaigns. This study assesses individual, disease-specific and contextual factors associated with COVID-19 vaccine acceptance among a nationally representative sample of older Brazilian adults.DesignCross-sectional analysis of data from household interviews and a supplementary telephone survey.SettingBrazil and its five geographic regions.ParticipantsData are derived from 6584 individuals aged 50 years and over who participated in the second wave of the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Aging.Primary and secondary outcome measuresSurvey-weighted multinomial logistic regression assesses factors associated with intending, not intending or being uncertain about one's intention to vaccinate against COVID-19.FindingsSeventy-one per cent of study participants intend to receive a COVID-19 vaccine once available, while 17% (representative of nearly 9 million people) have no intention to vaccinate, and 12% are still undecided. Besides age, demographic and health-related factors related to COVID-19 severity and complications were not associated with intention to vaccinate. Those who most trusted social media or friends and family for COVID-19 information and those who did not trust any information source were 68% and 78% more likely to refuse vaccination, respectively, as compared with those who trusted official information sources. People who inconsistently used face masks when outside were 3.4 times more likely than consistent face mask users to intend to refuse vaccination. Higher municipal COVID-19 fatality rates were negatively associated with vaccine refusal.ConclusionsMost national COVID-19 immunisation strategies identify older individuals as among those prioritised for early vaccination, given their increased risk of more severe symptoms and complications of the disease. Because individual, disease-specific, and contextual factors were associated with vaccine acceptance, there is a clear need for multilevel and multichannel information and outreach campaigns to increase COVID-19 vaccine acceptance among vulnerable older populations.

Project description:Frailty is common in older adults with fractures. Osteoporosis medications reduce subsequent fracture, but limited data exist on medication efficacy in frail individuals. Our objective was to determine whether medications reduce the risk of subsequent fracture in frail, older adults. A retrospective cohort of Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries was conducted (2014-2016). We included adults aged ≥65 years who were hospitalized with fractures without osteoporosis treatment. Pre-fracture frailty was defined using claims-based frailty index (≥0.2 = frail). Exposure to any osteoporosis treatment (oral or intravenous bisphosphonates, denosumab, and teriparatide) was ascertained using Part B and D claims and categorized according to the cumulative duration of exposure: none, 1-90 days, and >90 days. Subsequent fractures were ascertained from Part A or B claims. Cause-specific hazard models with time-varying exposure were fit to examine the association between treatment and fracture outcomes, controlling for relevant covariates. Among 29,904 patients hospitalized with fractures, 15,345 (51.3%) were frail, and 2148 (7.2%) received osteoporosis treatment (median treatment duration 183.0 days). Patients who received treatment were younger (80.2 versus 82.2 years), female (86.5% versus 73.0%), and less frail (0.20 versus 0.22) than patients without treatment. During follow-up, 5079 (17.0%) patients experienced a subsequent fracture. Treatment with osteoporosis medications for >90 days compared with no treatment reduced the risk of fracture (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.82; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.68-1.00) overall. Results were similar in frail (HR = 0.85; 95% CI 0.65-1.12) and non-frail (HR = 0.80; 95% CI 0.61-1.04) patients but not significant. In conclusion, osteoporosis treatment >90 days was associated with similar trends in reduced risk of subsequent fracture in frail and non-frail persons. Treatment rates were very low, particularly among the frail. When weighing treatment options in frail older adults with hospitalized fractures, clinicians should be aware that drug therapy does not appear to lose its efficacy. © 2022 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research (ASBMR).

Project description:Background/objectivesGuideline-based management of cardiovascular disease often involves prescribing multiple medications, which contributes to polypharmacy and risk for adverse drug events in older adults. Deprescribing is a potential strategy to mitigate these risks. We sought to characterize and compare clinician perspectives regarding deprescribing cardiovascular medications across three specialties.DesignNational cross-sectional survey.SettingAmbulatory.ParticipantsRandom sample of geriatricians, general internists, and cardiologists from the American College of Physicians.MeasurementsElectronic survey assessing clinical practice of deprescribing cardiovascular medications, reasons and barriers to deprescribing, and choice of medications to deprescribe in hypothetical clinical cases.ResultsIn each specialty, 750 physicians were surveyed, with a response rate of 26% for geriatricians, 26% for general internists, and 12% for cardiologists. Over 80% of respondents within each specialty reported that they had recently considered deprescribing a cardiovascular medication. Adverse drug reactions were the most common reason for deprescribing for all specialties. Geriatricians also commonly reported deprescribing in the setting of limited life expectancy. Barriers to deprescribing were shared across specialties and included concerns about interfering with other physicians' treatment plans and patient reluctance. In hypothetical cases, over 90% of physicians in each specialty chose to deprescribe when patients experienced adverse drug reactions. Geriatricians were most likely and cardiologists were least likely to consider deprescribing cardiovascular medications in cases of limited life expectancy (all P < .001), such as recurrent metastatic cancer (84% of geriatricians, 68% of general internists, and 45% of cardiologists), Alzheimer dementia (92% of geriatricians, 81% of general internists, and 59% of cardiologists), or significant functional impairment (83% of geriatricians, 68% of general internists, and 45% of cardiologists).ConclusionsWhile barriers to deprescribing cardiovascular medications are shared across specialties, reasons for deprescribing, especially in the setting of limited life expectancy, varied. Implementing deprescribing will require improved processes for both physician-physician and physician-patient communication. J Am Geriatr Soc 68:78-86, 2019.

Dataset Information

Cost-related underuse of medications in older adults: ELSI-Brazil.

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Cost-related underuse of medications in older adults: ELSI-Brazil.

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