Multimorbidity associated with polypharmacy and negative self-perception of health

Abstract Objective: to verify the association between the multimorbidity of the elderly and sociodemographic variables, self-perception of health and polypharmacy. Method: a cross-sectional study was performed. The research data was collected using the Health, Well-Being and Aging questionnaire. The sample was composed of 676 people aged 60 years or more, who were residents of small towns in the north of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The dependent variable was multimorbidity, that is, the occurrence of two or more chronic non-communicable diseases in the same person. The independent variables were demographic, socioeconomic and health-related characteristics. Poisson’s raw and robust regression model was used to analyze the effect of the independent variables in relation to the outcome and p was considered significant when <0.05. Result: among the elderly interviewed, 45% presented multimorbidity, 51.1% reported a self-perception of poor/very poor health and 37.1% used polypharmacy. After the analysis was adjusted to the occurrence of multimorbidity, association with the following variables was found: health perception (regular/poor/very poor) PR=1.15 (CI95%; 1.09 - 1.22) and use of polypharmacy PR=1.29 (CI95%; 1.22 - 1.35). Conclusion: Multimorbidity may interfere negatively in the self-perception of health of the elderly contributing to increased medicine consumption.