Self-medication with over-the-counter drugs and complementary medications in South Australia's elderly population

Table 5 Prevalence of OTC use across variables of interest

	1992-1993		1994-1995		2000-2001		2003-2004
	Wave 1	N = 268	Wave 3	N = 278	Wave 6	N = 79	Wave 7	N = 83
Variable	N	%	N	%	N	%	N	%
Age (years)
65-79	159	13.0	148	16.6	27	12.5	8	17.0
80+	109	12.6	130	16.5	52	9.0	75	17.0
P value	0.809		0.985		0.149		0.997
Gender
Female	146	14.2	149	17.4	52	11.4	51	16.8
Male	122	11.6	129	15.6	27	8.1	32	17.4%
P value	0.075		0.318		0.121		0.873
Education (Age when left school)
<14 years	47	14.0	47	17.9	14	13.3	11	16.9
≥ 14 years	220	12.8	227	16.2	65	9.5	72	17.1
P value	0.538		0.493		0.223		0.965
Tertiary education
Yes	98	14.0	101	17.7	27	9.7	31	17.5
No	170	12.4	176	16.1	52	10.2	52	16.9
P value	0.316		0.388		0.843		0.859
Income Level
<$12,000	89	13.0	97	17.4	26	15.8	23	19.8
$12,000 - $30,000	137	12.7	111	15.4	26	8.3	24	16.4
>$30,000	25	15.5	27	30.0	5	7.5	8	12.5
P value	0.598		0.003		0.029		0.446
Perceived Health
Excellent	19	9.9	17	13.2	4	6.3	4	25.0
Very Good	63	10.5	58	14.1	25	13.8	13	15.3
Good	96	15.2	105	19.7	21	9.4	25	14.6
Fair	73	15.3	73	18.1	18	12.2	24	21.2
Poor	17	9.4	14	13.2	4	10.8	6	20.2
P value	0.018		0.097		0.438		0.536

The percentages are calculated over the total number of participants in each category of the variable of interest

ISSN: 2662-7671