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Factors associated with refraining from buying prescribed medications among older people in Europe
Mindaugas Stankunas1, Joaquim F J Soares, Eija Viitasara
1School of Public Health, Griffith University, Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia; Department of Health Management, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Kaunas, Lithuania.
Aim:
To evaluate the associations between refraining from buying prescribed medications and selected factors among older persons.
Methods:
A total of 4467 people aged 60-84 years from seven European countries answered a questionnaire (response rate 45.2%). Refraining from buying prescribed medications was measured with the question: 'Have you ever refrained from buying prescribed medication and care?'
Results:
About 11.9% of older people refrained from buying prescribed medications. The multiple regression analysis showed that ages 60-64 (odds ratio (OR) = 2.08; 95% confidence interval (95%CI): 1.38-3.13) and 65-69 (OR = 1.73; 95%CI: 1.16-2.57) years, experience of financial strain (OR = 1.59; 95%CI: 1.27-2.01), as well as exposure to abuse (OR = 1.64; 95%CI: 1.31-2.06) when taking into account country of participant were independently associated with refraining from buying medications, while an opposite association was observed for being male (OR = 0.72; 95%CI: 0.58-0.91).
Conclusions:
The study found that refraining from buying prescription medications is a problem among older people and identified a number of factors associated with this.
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