Frequency of Polypharmacy Use in Geriatric Hypertension Prescriptions for Telkom Retirees at Kimia Farma Kartini Pharmacy, Pematang Siantar

Abstract

The growth of the elderly population in Indonesia, which has exceeded 10% of the total population, has led to an increase in cases of degenerative diseases and multi-morbidity, including hypertension, which often requires the use of multiple medications (polypharmacy). This condition increases the risk of drug interactions that can reduce the effectiveness of therapy. This study aims to describe the characteristics of patients, drug use, drug interactions, and the level of polypharmacy in geriatric hypertensive patients at Kimia Farma Kartini Pharmacy, Pematang Siantar based on Telkom retiree prescriptions. The study used a descriptive method with a simple random sampling technique on 57 samples from a total population of 67 patients. The results showed that the majority of patients were women (54.39%) with an age group of 60–74 years (80.7%). The most commonly used hypertension medication was the Calcium Channel Blocker class (47.37%). A total of 36 patients experienced drug interactions with moderate interaction levels (68.42%) being the most dominant. The use of major polypharmacy was found in 75.44% of prescriptions. Increased education and supervision in providing drug information is needed so that patients take their medications according to the correct dosage and time.