National census snapshot reveals high rates of polypharmacy and self-directed medicine use in adults aged 50 and older, highlighting the need for improved health literacy.
The use of multiple medicines is common and higher than reported in the 1995 National Health Survey. Today, much medicines use is to prevent future disease by influencing risk factors. High levels of polypharmacy highlight the need to support the safe and effective use of medicines in the community. Although doctors recommend or prescribe most medicines, self-directed medication use is common. This highlights the need for consumer access to accurate information and strategies to improve health literacy about medicines.
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Morgan et al. (2012) studied this question.
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