The prevalence of self-reported underuse of medications due to cost for the elderly: results from seven European urban communities

• Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of self-reported underuse of medications due toprocurement costs amongst older persons from seven European urban communities.Methods: The data were collected in a cross-sectional study (“ABUEL, Elder abuse: A multinational prevalencesurvey”) in 2009. Randomly selected people aged 60–84 years (n = 4,467) from seven urban communities: Stuttgart(Germany), Athens (Greece), Ancona (Italy), Kaunas (Lithuania), Porto (Portugal), Granada (Spain) and Stockholm(Sweden) were interviewed. Response rate - 45.2 %. Ethical permission was received in each country.Results: The results indicate that 3.6 % (n = 162) of the respondents self-reported refraining from buying prescribedmedications due to cost. The highest prevalence of this problem was identified in Lithuania (15.7 %, n = 99) and Portugal(4.3 %, n = 28). Other countries reported lower percentages of refraining from buying medications (Germany – 2.0 %,Italy – 1.6 %, Sweden – 1.0 %, Greece – 0.6 %, Spain – 0.3 %). Females refrained more often from buying medicationsthan males (2.6 % vs. 4.4 %, p < 0.0001). The prevalence of this refraining tended to increase with economic hardship.Discussion: These differences between countries can be only partly described by the financing of health-care systems.In spite of the presence of cost reimbursement mechanisms, patients need to make co-payments (or in some cases topay the full price) for prescribed medications. This indicates that the purchasing power of people in 10.1186/s12913-015-1089-4 the particular country can play a major role and be related with the economic situation in the country. Lithuania,which has reported the highest refrain rates, had the lowest gross domestic product (at the time of conducting thisstudy) of all participating countries in the study.Conclusions: Refraining from buying the prescribed medications due to cost is a problem for women and men inrespect to ageing people in Europe. Prevalence varies by country, sex, and economic hardship.Keywords: Ageing, Accessibility, Medications, Europe, ABUEL

Nyckelord

Ageing

Accessibility

Medications

Europe

ABUEL

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