en تخصصي Special پژوهشي Research <div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="text-justify:inter-ideograph"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""><b><span style="font-size:9.5pt"><span style="letter-spacing:-.1pt">Introduction:</span></span></b> <span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="letter-spacing:-.1pt">Older adults are the largest group of medication users in each society. Since medications act differently in seniors compared with younger patients, great considerations are required regarding the effects and side effects of medications in the older adults. The present study aimed to determine the status of medication use and its related factors among older adults in Kerman city, Iran.</span></span></span></span></span><br> <span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="text-justify:inter-ideograph"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""><b><span style="font-size:9.5pt"><span style="letter-spacing:-.1pt">Methods:</span></span></b><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="letter-spacing:-.1pt"> In the cross-sectional study, 388 seniors were selected using multistage cluster sampling from the population covered by comprehensive health centers in Kerman in 2021. Demographic information questions (age, gender, education level, marital status, life status, substance abuse, income, and health insurance status), </span></span><span style="font-size:9.5pt"><span style="letter-spacing:-.1pt">a question regarding medication usage status and a question regarding disease that the elderly are currently suffering from,</span></span><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="letter-spacing:-.1pt"> Montreal Cognitive Assessment Questionnaire, Geriatric Depression Scale, and Sleep Disorder Questionnaire were used for data collection. The data were analyzed using SPSS software by running Chi-square and multiple logistic regression tests.</span></span></span></span></span><br> <span style="font-size:12pt"><span style="text-justify:kashida"><span style="text-kashida:0%"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""><b><span style="font-size:9.5pt"><span style="letter-spacing:-.1pt">Results:</span></span></b> <span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="letter-spacing:-.1pt">The average number of medications used per day was 4.59 and 53.5% of the participants used five or more medications concomitantly. Antihypertensive medications had the highest prevalence (64.3%) followed by anti-hyperlipidemic (43.6%) and Supplements (41.3%). A significant correlation was found between the participants&#39; frequency of medication use and their gender, income, primary insomnia, and cognitive impairment (p < 0.001). However, medication use had no significant association with the senior&#39;s age, marital status, education level, living status, substance abuse, and health insurance (p </span></span><span dir="RTL" lang="AR-SA" style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="letter-spacing:-.1pt"><</span></span> <span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="letter-spacing:-.1pt">0.05). The risk of polypharmacy was 2.15 times higher in the elderly women than men (p = 0.001) and 0.45 times higher in participants with depression than non-depressed seniors (p = 0.011).</span></span></span></span></span></span><br> <b><span style="font-size:9.5pt"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""><span style="letter-spacing:-.1pt">Conclusion</span></span></span></b><span style="font-size:9.5pt"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""><span style="letter-spacing:-.1pt">: </span></span></span><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span new="" roman="" style="font-family:" times=""><span style="letter-spacing:-.1pt">The high prevalence of polypharmacy indicates an unfavorable status of medication use among older adults in Kerman. So, authorities are required to provide educational information about polypharmacy to aged groups. </span></span></span></div> Medication Use, Polypharmacy, Aging, Kerman 9 15 http://ehj.ssu.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-393-1&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Rezvan Davari davari.r67@gmail.com No Department of Aging and Health, School of Public Health, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran Mohammad Ali Morowatisharifabad morowatisharif@yahoo.com 0000-0002-4039-3932 Yes Department of Aging and Health, School of Public Health, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran Alireza Beigomi @yahoo.com No SABA Healthy Aging Institute, Yazd, Iran Sara Jambarsang No Departments of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences, Yazd, Iran