Comparing Assisted Living Facility Residents' Medication Use in Rural and Non-Rural Assisted Living Facilities

The most rapidly growing form of residential long-term care is assisted living, but little is known about medication use among this population. Using data from a nationally representative sample collected as part of the ASPE-funded National Study of Assisted Living for the Frail Elderly, this research project analyzed patterns of medication use among assisted living residents in rural and non-rural areas. These data have never been coded or analyzed before. Drug categories were also used according to Beers et al. criteria, to assess drug-drug interactions as well as drug-age inappropriateness. Activities of Daily Living (ADLs) and cognitive scores of residents identified as having drug-age and/or drug-drug interactions were compared to residents free of potentially adverse interactions.

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