Affiliations 

  • 1 Faculty of Pharmacy, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Puncak Alam, Selangor, Malaysia
  • 2 Dietetic Program, School of Healthcare Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, National University of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Geriatr Gerontol Int, 2017 Aug;17(8):1214-1220.
PMID: 27489036 DOI: 10.1111/ggi.12849

Abstract

AIM: The present study assessed adherence, barriers, belief and awareness towards the use of medications among multi-ethnic community-dwelling older adults in Malaysia. Medication accessibility, expenditure and perceptions towards medicine labeling among older adults were also evaluated.

METHODS: A cross-sectional study was carried out in the central region of Malaysia from January to August 2015. The older adults enrolled in an ongoing prospective community-based geriatric cohort study and prescribed with medicines were interviewed using a 50-item validated questionnaire.

RESULTS: Of the 79 older adults interviewed, 39.2% had ≥4 prescribed medications. Most obtained their medications free-of-charge from government hospitals (66, 83.5%). Nearly half (35, 44.3%) had trouble reading labels for medicines that they had received. Chinese older adults (P = 0.001) and those with lower monthly household income (P 

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.