L’exposition a la polymédication différe-t-elle entre Ies milieux ruraux et urbains ? Une revue descriptive des écrits

摘要

Context: Polypharmacy, the use of multiple medications by a patient, has increased in the population. Polypharmacy is more prevalent in older people and those living with chronic conditions. There is little knowledge about the impact of the rural-urban residency on the number of medications taken. Purpose: This descriptive review of literature aims to explore the relation between rural-urban residency and the prevalence and intensity of prescription use. Method: The review was carried out with Medline and EMbase electronic databases utilizing the search terms “Polypharmacy”, “rural or urban residency", “rural population", “rural population health services", “socioeconomic deprivation", for articles published between 2000 and 2017. The search yielded 11 articles which met the inclusion criteria. Results: These studies were conducted in 10 different countries (Canada=1). Ten of these studies involved older people. Six studies revealed that polyphannacy was more frequent in urban areas, one study indicated the opposite, and four studies showed no difference between rural and urban areas. Polypharmacy was related to ageing, chronic illnesses and a low self-rated health. Conclusion: Con?icting results emerged from the studies concerning the association between the rural-urban region and polypharrnacy. Variations between regions and countries are important, making generalizations dif?cult. Further research is needed to determine whether or not there are urban-rural differences in the number of medication taken. and if these differences are in?uenced by the lack of access to health services, the number of chronic illnesses or the quality of medical prescriptions.