Swathi H. N1, B. Vilekith Reddy2, Aubrey Franco3, Menda Manoj Kumar4, Deepthi Shanbhag5
BACKGROUND
Pain is one of the most common complaints that the elderly come with and oral analgesics are most commonly prescribed to give temporary relief for the pain. Due to a lack of understanding of the usage and side effects of the analgesics and due to them easily available over the counter and due to persistence of pain they are most commonly abused. Very little has been studied on the same topic.
OBJECTIVE
This study was conducted to assess the prevalence of analgesic abuse in elderly population in few villages of Bangalore Urban District.
METHODS
A cross sectional study was conducted from November 2013 to January 2014 in 14 villages of 2 sub center areas of a PHC. The sample size was calculated to be 295 by using the prevalence studies. A pre tested interview schedule administered questionnaire was used as a tool for data collection.
RESULTS
Of the 295 sample size 38.3% had aches and pains; of which 59% were on pain medications; of which 46.26% were consuming them daily; 26.3% were taking them less than 7 times a week; and the remaining 28.27% were using them occasionally. 22.38% of the analgesic users had the knowledge of side effects; 29% of the analgesic users experienced side effects. Some of them (1.49%) had serious side effects requiring hospitalization, 38.8% of people insisted on injectable analgesics, 35.8% of analgesic users, abused analgesics with no prescription ever.
CONCLUSION
Prevalence of analgesic use was found to be 22.7% and the prevalence of analgesic abuse was found to be 8.1%.
