Peer-reviewed article
Older Adult Perceptions and Practices Regarding Medication Use and Storage.
Lyles JL, Freeman DI, Lovegrove MC, Stone ND ·
Summary
Written by AI, not yet AICS's view · claude-haiku-4-5-20251001This study surveyed 986 older adults aged 60-78 in the United States about how they store and use medications. Researchers found that many older adults keep medications in easily accessible places like cabinets, tables, and countertops, and nearly half transfer medications to pill organizers, creating risks for young children who visit their homes. Since grandparents' medications are involved in a significant portion of unintentional medication poisonings in children, the study recommends educational campaigns in pharmacies and doctors' offices to encourage safer storage practices.
Key points
- 30.7% of prescription medication exposures in young children involved grandparents' medications
- 90.8% of older adult respondents reported taking at least one medication or supplement daily
- 56.5% kept household medications in cabinets, 30.3% on tables/desks, and 20.7% on countertops
- 48.5% of respondents transferred medications from original bottles to other containers like pill organizers
- 72.7% of older adults who wanted safety messages preferred to receive them at pharmacies, and 66.5% at doctors' offices
Limitations
The study is a cross-sectional survey of self-reported behaviors and does not measure actual exposure incidents or the effectiveness of any intervention. It cannot establish causation between storage practices and child injury outcomes.
Abstract
Objective Approximately 35,000 young children are brought to US emergency departments annually due to unintentional medication exposures. A 2017 study examining the circumstances surrounding these exposures found that grandparents' medications were involved in 30.7% of prescription and 7.8% of over-the-counter exposures. Therefore, survey data were analyzed to better understand older adult perceptions and practices regarding medication use and storage to help inform interventions to promote safe medication storage behaviors. Methods Data were collected from February 22-27, 2024, through an online, "PN View Generation" survey of older adults aged 60-78 years. Results Among 986 older adult respondents, 20.8% reported frequent interaction and 79.2% reported infrequent/no interaction with young children. Overall, most respondents (90.8%) reported taking at least one medication/supplement every day. Respondents most commonly reported keeping household medications in a cabinet (56.5%), on a table/desk (30.3%), and on a countertop (20.7%). Nearly half of all older adult respondents (48.5%) reported that they transfer medications from their original bottles to other containers like daily pill organizers/pill boxes. Among respondents who wanted to hear safe medication storage messages (N=769), the most frequently identified locations where they preferred to see/hear messages were at pharmacies (72.7%) and doctors' offices (66.5%). Conclusions Behaviors that could put young children at risk for unintentional medication exposures were commonly reported. Educational efforts to reach older adults, especially in healthcare settings, and packaging/storage innovations designed to increase the likelihood that adults keep medications/supplements within child-resistant containers may be necessary to promote safe storage behaviors when spending time with young children.