Drug use in centenarians compared with nonagenarians and octogenarians in Sweden: a nationwide register-based study

• Published in: Age and ageing Vol. 41; no. 2; pp. 218 - 224
• Main Authors: Wastesson, Jonas W., Parker, Marti G., Fastbom, Johan, Thorslund, Mats, Johnell, Kristina
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Oxford University Press 01.03.2012; Oxford Publishing Limited (England)
• Subjects: Age Factors; Aged, 80 and over; Analgesics; Centenarians; Dose-response relationship; Dose-response relationship (Biochemistry); Drug abuse; Drug Prescriptions - statistics & numerical data; Drug therapy; Drug use; Drug Utilization - statistics & numerical data; Drug Utilization Review; drugs; elderly; Elderly people; Female; Guideline Adherence; Health aspects; Health Care Surveys; Humans; Independent Living; Institutionalization; Logistic Models; Male; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; Multivariate Analysis; Odds Ratio; Oldest old people; Palliative Care; Patient outcomes; pharmacoepidemiology; Pharmacology; Practice Guidelines as Topic; Practice Patterns, Physicians' - statistics & numerical data; Prescription Drugs - therapeutic use; register-based research; Registries; Sedative drugs; Sweden; Very old; Sweden; drugs; elderly; register-based research; centenarians; pharmacoepidemiology
• ISSN: 0002-0729; 1468-2834; 1468-2834
• DOI: 10.1093/ageing/afr144

Background: the number of centenarians increases rapidly. Yet, little is known about their health and use of medications. Objective: to investigate pharmacological drug use in community-dwelling and institutionalised centenarians compared with nonagenarians and octogenarians. Methods: we analysed data on dispensed drugs for centenarians (n = 1,672), nonagenarians (n = 76,584) and octogenarians (n = 383,878) from the Swedish Prescribed Drug Register, record-linked to the Swedish Social Services Register. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to analyse whether age was associated with use of drugs, after adjustment for sex, living situation and co-morbidity. Results: in the adjusted analysis, centenarians were more likely to use analgesics, hypnotics/sedatives and anxiolytics, but less likely to use antidepressants than nonagenarians and octogenarians. Moreover, centenarians were more likely to use high-ceiling diuretics, but less likely to use beta-blockers and ACE-inhibitors. Conclusions: centenarians high use of analgesics, hypnotics/sedatives and anxiolytics either reflects a palliative approach to drug treatment in centenarians or that pain and mental health problems increase into extreme old age. Also, centenarians do not seem to be prescribed cardiovascular drug therapy according to guidelines to the same extent as nonagenarians and octogenarians. Whether this reflects an age or cohort effect should be evaluated in longitudinal studies.