Polifarmacia en los adultos mayores en Latinoamérica

Abstract

Introduction: According to the World Health Organization (WHO), polypharmacy is a geriatric syndrome that implies the consumption of three or more drugs, and is currently considered a health problem that significantly affects older adults. Objective: To determine polypharmacy in older adults in Latin America through a study of prevalence, associated factors, complications, explicit criteria to reduce inappropriate prescribing, and the role of nursing in the face of polypharmacy in Latin America. Methodology: A bibliographic review of narrative type was carried out from 60 articles, taking into account documents that meet the inclusion criteria, through the search in scientific databases in different languages Spanish, English, and Portuguese, in addition, institutional pages related to the health area were considered through the use of Boléan operators and the descriptors of health sciences (DeSC) establishing search equations. Results: The results obtained indicate that the prevalence of polypharmacy in Latin America ranges from 28% to 76.9%, sociodemographic factors, self-medication, being a woman, and polypathologies are directly related to the consumption of 3 or more drugs. Conclusions: There is a considerable prevalence of polypharmacy in Latin America and it is significantly related to the female sex, multimorbidity, increased longevity, and self-medication, in itself is a problem that is increasingly prevalent in older adults, hence the importance of broadening the vision of our society and the multidisciplinary team, since it has not been given adequate interest.