[Medication use among older adults in Bogota, Colombia]

To determine the frequency and types of medication used by older adults living in the Colombian capital, Bogota, and to identify the use of potentially inappropriate medications according to the revised Beers criteria.

Data were obtained from the health, welfare, and aging (SABE, Spanish: salud, bienestar y envejecimiento) study conducted in both urban and rural areas of Bogota in 2012. The Mann-Whitney U test was used to analyze sex-related differences in the number of medications used among age-stratified subgroups.

Of 2 000 subjects, 1,268 (63.4%) were women; furthermore, 1,514 (75.7%) of the total participants had ≤5 years of basic education. The self-reported prevalence rates of hypertension and diabetes were 56.9% and 17.5%, respectively. The average number of medications per subject was 3.24, and it was higher in women (3.50) than in men (2.79). A total of 549 subjects (27.4%) reported using ≥5 medications. Only 311 subjects (15.6%) reported not using any medication. According to the Beers criteria, 443 (6.9%) of the medications were potentially inappropriate.

The use of inappropriate medications is a major problem among older adults in Bogota. Further studies should identify factors that increase the risks of polypharmacy and inappropriate medication use and design interventions that would allow older adults to avoid these risks.