Retrospective Evaluation of the Age and Multi-Drug Use Characteristics of Applications to Mugla Education and Research Hospital Diet Clinic

Objective: There is a strong connection between taking multiple medications and a person’s overall nutrition. The study aimed to look at the general features and use of multiple drugs among older adults. Method: Age, gender, body mass index (BMI), comorbidities, medications that were applied to the outpatient diet clinic between 01.01.2019-31.03.2019 were evaluated retrospectively. Results: Out of total of 933 applications, 594 patients were evaluated after excluding those who were missing height or weight information, those who were found to have multiple records. In the selected period the frequency of females was higher, while the average age of males was higher. It was observed that the number of men and women over 60 years requiring admission was roughly equal, and their BMI values did not differ substantially. For people under 60 years, BMI seemed to go up a little as they got older, but for those 60 years or over 60 years, BMI tended to go down. Polypharmacy, multiple drug use were more common in the 60 years or over 60 years age group. While evaluating the factors that polypharmacy in our study, it was seen that the comorbid status, age of the patients were important, but the gender or BMI was not significant. Discussion: The decline in nutritional status, the rising prevalence of chronic diseases, and the increased use of multiple medications with aging are emerging as significant public health challenges.