DOMICILIARY THERAPY IN AN ULTRAOCTOGENARIAN POPULATION OF INNER SICILY - TROINA

Drug assumption was studied in a rural population of octogenarians and over, in inner Sicily. The study was performed by means of interviews applying a questionnaire on 326 subjects, 162 males and 164 females, representing 91 % of the entire age-matched population. Sixty subjects (18.4 %) did not take any kind of medications, while 266 (81.6 %) did take drugs, ranging from 1 to 10 different kinds of medicines daily, altogether 1001 different drugs were mentioned. Distribution of drugs related to organs and apparatuses as well as pharmacological features revealed a wide use of cardiovascular medications (about 50 %) followe d by drugs acting on gastrointestinal (18.9 %), nervous (9.4 %), respi ratory (8.3 %), locomotor (6.8 %) and urogenital (1.5 %) systems, and the rest included hormones, vitamines, antibiotics, etc. The study of patients' abilities in recognizing and properly assuming medications r evealed that 20.7 % of patients could not act autonomously, they were requiring a continuous aid. However, the overall consumption of drugs was relatively moderate and well addressed to the existing pathologies .