KNOWLEDGE OF COMMONLY PRESCRIBED MEDICATIONS TO OCTOGENARIANS

Eighty outpatients aged 80 years or more were face-to-face interviewed in order to assess the appropriate recall of six items of information about the 19 most commonly prescribed medications by means of a questionnaire cross-culturally adapted into Brazilian Portuguese. In some cases, the caregiver was interviewed instead. The frequency of medications whose information was appropriately recalled ranged from 36% to 100%, 36% to 100%, 18% to 90%, 9% to 63%, 0 to 25%, and 0 to 10% for respectively the following items dosage, form of administration, indication, storage, side effects, and precautions and warnings, indicating poor overall knowledge. The lowest frequency of dosage and form of administration was seen for alendronic acid (36% each), and the highest frequency of side effects was found for donepezil (25%). Octagenarians and their caregivers should be constantly counseled on medication information.