Prescription drug use among elderly admitted to medical wards in a Malaysian government hospital

A cross-sectional study was conducted to examine the use of prescription drugs among elderly patients (> or = 60 years old) admitted to medical wards in Hospital Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. A total of 204 elderly (101 men and 103 women) were interviewed. Eighty two percent of the elderly were taking at least one prescription drug, with 39.2% taking > or = 5 drugs. Prescription drugs commonly used were antihypertensives (54.4%), antidiabetics (40.2%), drugs used in haemostasis (36.8%), nitrates (33.3%) and diuretics (32.4%). Factors associated with increased use of prescription drugs were: more number of chronic diseases, self-rated health status as poor, low Barthel score, and Chinese women.