Prevalence and characteristics of self-medication among older adults living in Commune 11 of Buenos Aires, Argentina

Introduction: Self-medication is defined as the use of drugs of one's own choice without a medical indication. Older adults are at greater risk of self-medication because they tend to have multiple chronic conditions and the large number of medications they take can lead to drug-drug interactions. Objective: To describe the prevalence and characteristics of self-medication in adults aged 60 to 75 years in the 11th Municipality of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires during the period between April and May 2024. Methods: Descriptive, cross-sectional and quantitative study. An ex profeso instrument consisting of 26 closed questions was used. Results: A total of 104 older adults aged between 60 and 75 years were interviewed. Most of them were female (60.58%) and had a chronic underlying disease (66.35%). The prevalence of self-medication was 74.04%. The ailments/pain that motivated self-medication were musculoskeletal pain (87.01%) and fever (63.64%), and consequently the most used drugs were analgesics (94.81%). When asked about the effects of the drugs, 98.70% reported improvements in their symptoms and generally no adverse reactions (80.52%). Conclusions: The high prevalence of self-medication among older adults is mainly due to difficulties in getting appointments for medical check-ups. Although most respondents reported improvements in their health and few adverse effects, these findings highlight the need to improve access to medical care and to promote responsible use of medicines.