Browsing by Author "Saarenpää, Maija"

The body changes its response to medicine by age. Thus, medicines information for the elderly needs to differ from information targeted to younger adults. Package leaflets (PLs) are among the key sources of medicines information among general public. Although not generally recommended, benzodiazepines are commonly used by the elderly. The aim of this study was to evaluate the usability of benzodiazepine PLs and their information content from the elderly perspective. Additionally, the study aimed to explore how medicines information targeted to elderly in PLs aligns with the information targeted to health care professionals (HCPs). The study focused on PLs of benzodiazepines and their derivatives (diazepam, alprazolam, oxazepam, zopiclone and temazepam) that are commonly used but not recommended for the elderly. The usability of PLs was evaluated by using the Medication Information Design Assessment Scale (MIDAS). The informational content of PLs was studied by identifying all references for the elderly and comparing them to information targeted to HCPs in Database of medication for the elderly, Beer's criteria, Kapseli 35 publication, Martindale, Current Care Guideline for insomnia and the Summaries of Product Characteristics. The usability of the PLs in this study required several improvements. The mean of MIDAS-credits was 6,22 (n = 27; range 5,00-7,00), the scale maximum being 13. Sufficient line spacing and highlighting of important information were among the poorly represented elements. The occurrence of different font-sizes also varied. The most proficiently represented features included headings, contrast and the usage of upper and lower case in text. The PLs included in the content-analysis contained references to the elderly in all cases except one (n = 35). The references were categorized to general warnings, side effects and dose recommendations. They were in line with the information targeted to HCPs, but relatively short and often inadequate. Most PLs did not give an adequate overall picture of the medicine use among the elderly. The PLs for benzodiazepines need to be improved from the elderly perspective both in terms of information content and usability. Attention both from the medicine authorities and the pharmaceutical industry is required. Alternatively, separate drug-specific information leaflets for the elderly may be developed.