Table 2.

Description of the medication use and level of inappropriate prescribing

Description of the medication use		Mean (range)
Medication use		5.4 (0–16)
Underuse		1.2 (0–5)
Misuse		0.9 (0–6)
		%
Polypharmacy (≥five drugs daily)		57.7
ATC C ‐ Cardiovascular		86.3
ATC B ‐ Blood and blood forming		56.1
ATC N ‐ Nervous system		54.5
ATC A ‐ Alimentary tract and metabolism		50.1
ATC M ‐ Musculo‐skeletal system		23.5
ATC R ‐ Respiratory system		15.9
ATC H ‐ Systemic hormonal preparations		11.7
ATC G ‐ Genito‐urinary system and sex hormones		10.3

Inappropriate prescribing	Underuse %	Misuse %
0	33.0	43.9
1–2	52.7	46.7
3 or more	14.3	9.3

Combinations	Low medication use (0–4), in %	Polypharmacy (5 or more), in %
No misuse or underuse	12.5	4.6
Only underuse	15.3	11.5
Only misuse	5.8	10.1
Underuse and misuse	8.7	31.4

Correlations a		r s (P value)
Underuse * Misuse		.19 (<0.001)
Underuse * Number of medications		.26 (<0.001)
Misuse * Number of medications		.51 (<0.001)

^aAll variables are expressed as continuous variables