Characteristics of medication management in community-dwelling older adults with subjective memory complaints

<p>【Aim】 The purpose of this study was to clarify the characteristics of medication management among community-dwelling older adults with subjective memory complaints (SMC) and to examine the association between SMC and medication management. 【Methods】 A total of 690 aged 65 years or older in the community cohort study in 2019 participated. Of these, 573 who met the inclusion criteria were analyzed. Participants were divided into two groups according to the presence or absence of SMC, and associations with medication management items were analyzed using Fisher's exact test for categorical variables and the unpaired t-test for continuous variables. In addition, binomial logistic regression analysis was conducted with SMC as the dependent variable and medication management items as the independent variables, adjusted for demographic variables. 【Results】 Among the community-dwelling older adults in this study, 206 were in the healthy group and 367 were in the SMC group. Covariate-adjusted binomial logistic regression analysis showed that "having residual medication" (OR: 1.62, 95% CI: 1.01 to 2.59, p = 0.04) and "depressive symptoms" (OR: 1.48, 95% CI: 1.20 to 1.69, p < 0.001) were significantly associated with SMC. 【Conclusion】 The characteristics of medication management among community-dwelling older adults with SMC were significantly associated with "residual medication". Understanding the presence or absence of residual medications from the SMC stage and taking measures to address the factors that led to residual medications may help reduce the burden of caregivers in managing medications.</p>