NPS medicines snapshot
October 12, 2015
NPS MedicineWise today
launched Be Medicinewise Week
with the release of a survey
highlighting the prevalence of
medicines in Australia.
Based on a poll of 1,000
Australian adults, the report
showed 83% of respondents aged
65 and over took prescription
medicines every day - while 29% of
those aged 50 or older took seven
or more prescription medicines on
a regular basis.
Interestingly, it isn’t just older
Australians taking medicines
regularly, with 43% of 34-
49 year olds taking three or
more medications, and 45% of
respondents aged 18-34 taking one
prescription medication regularly.
13% of respondents reported
having more than 20 different types
of medicines stored at home, and
39% conceded that “some to most”
of these may be out of date.
A quarter of those polled
admitted knowingly taking a
medicine that was out of date.
In terms of where the medicines
are being purchased, 83% of
respondents had bought an
over-the-counter medicine at a
pharmacy within the past year.
And in accordance with the
recent Roy Morgan survey on
complementary medicines (PD Fri),
NPS found CMs were more likely
to be bought at a pharmacy (51%)
compared to a supermarket (37%),
health store (21%) or online (11%).
NPS MedicineWise spokesperson
Karen Kaye urged good medicine
habits, such as cleaning out
the cabinet on a regular basis
and “communicating with their
health professionals about all the
medicines they take and making
sure these are regularly reviewed.
“For people taking multiple
medicines, side effects, interactions
between medicines, accidental
overdosing and forgetting to take
medicines can easily become
issues,” Kaye said.
The above article was sent to subscribers in Pharmacy Daily's issue from 12 Oct 15To see the full newsletter, see the embedded issue below or CLICK HERE to download Pharmacy Daily from 12 Oct 15
