Polypharmacy and Depression Among Older Individuals

Ahmet  Çiğiloğlu; Eyyüp Murat Efendioğlu; Zeynel Abidin Öztürk

doi:10.5152/EurJTher.2022.21040

Authors

Ahmet Çiğiloğlu Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Geriatric Medicine, Gaziantep University, Faculty of Medicine, Gaziantep, Turkey https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2307-8682
Eyyüp Murat Efendioğlu Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Geriatric Medicine, Gaziantep University, Faculty of Medicine, Gaziantep, Turkey https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3257-7352
Zeynel Abidin Öztürk Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Geriatric Medicine, Gaziantep University, Faculty of Medicine, Gaziantep, Turkey https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1717-2824

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5152/EurJTher.2022.21040

Keywords:

Depression, older adults, polypharmacy

Abstract

Objective: The aim of the present study is to determine the frequency of polypharmacy and depression and the relationship between them in older adults.

Methods: We reviewed the files and electronic records of 863 patients aged 65 years and older admitted to our geriatric outpatient clinic. The presence of polypharmacy and depression was evaluated.

Results: The mean age of the participants was 73.3 ± 6.5 years. The proportion of female patients was 66.8%. While the frequency of polypharmacy was 47.1% in general, it was 80.5% in depressive patients. The proportion of patients diagnosed with depression was 15.9%. The presence of depression was found to be associated with a 3.3-fold increase in the risk of polypharmacy.

Conclusions: The frequency of polypharmacy was found to be high especially among depressed patients in our study. Early diagnosis of depressed elderly people seems to be an approach to prevent the occurrence of polypharmacy.

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