Table 3. Prescription profile of PPIs, motivation for acquisition and knowledge about risks of prolonged use.
| Characteristics | n | % |
|---|---|---|
| PPI acquired by medical indication | 359 | 87.8 |
| PPI acquired with presentation of medical prescription | 165 | 40.3 |
| Prescriber Specialty | ||
| Gastroenterologist | 193 | 49.5 |
| General practitioner | 38 | 9.7 |
| Other medical specialties | 64 | 16.4 |
| Don’t know / Don’t remember | 95 | 24.4 |
| Reason for use | ||
| Gastrointestinal symptoms (GI) | 320 | 78.8 |
| Use of medications | 45 | 11.1 |
| Prevention of GI symptoms | 29 | 7.1 |
| Other reasons | 11 | 2.7 |
| Knowledge of prolonged use risk | ||
| Unknown risk | 235 | 57.5 |
| Know, but do not remember | 82 | 20.1 |
| Causes dementia | 26 | 6.3 |
| Cancer | 26 | 6.3 |
| Worse absorption of vitamins | 8 | 2.0 |
| Other reasons | 33 | 8.0 |
n,%: absolute and relative frequency