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

Table 6 Prevalence of CAM use across variables of interest

	1992-1993		1994-1995		2000-2001		2003-2004
	Wave 1	N = 180	Wave 3	N = 241	Wave 6	N = 71	Wave 7	N = 173
Variable	N	%	N	%	N	%	N	%
Age (years)
65-79	122	10.0	152	17.0	27	12.5	17	36.2
80+	58	6.7	89	11.3	44	7.7	101	23.0
P value	0.009		0.001		0.034		0.044
Gender
Female	102	9.9	142	16.6	53	11.6	81	26.7
Male	78	7.4	99	12.0	18	5.4	37	20.1
P value	0.041		0.007		0.002		0.098
Education (Age when left school)
<14 years	30	8.9	39	14.9	10	9.5	16	24.6
≥ 14 years	149	8.6	200	14.3	61	8.9	102	24.3
P value	0.862		0.803		0.840		0.954
Tertiary education
Yes	63	9.0	92	16.1	27	9.7	56	31.6
No	116	8.5	149	13.6	44	8.6	62	20.1
P value	0.694		0.161		0.600		0.004
Income Level
<$12,000	52	7.6	82	14.7	18	10.9	33	28.4
$12,000 - $30,000	101	9.3	120	16.7	29	9.3	34	23.3
>$30,000	12	7.5	13	14.4	10	14.9	12	18.8
P value	0.385		0.581		0.385		0.326
Self-rated health
Excellent	16	8.4	17	13.2	12	18.8	7	43.8
Very Good	58	9.7	64	15.6	17	9.4	24	28.2
Good	56	8.8	90	16.9	23	10.3	43	25.1
Fair	38	8.0	53	13.2	11	7.5	23	20.4
Poor	12	6.6	11	10.4	5	13.5	6	20.0
P value	0.722		0.312		0.152		0.268

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

ISSN: 2662-7671