Medication adherence in older adults with chronic diseases: a scoping review of barriers, facilitators, and effective interventions
Abstract
Objective: Medication adherence in older adults with chronic diseases is a public health challenge, given the growing and irreversible aging of the population, with direct repercussions on clinical outcomes and collective wellbeing. This scope review seeks to identify the main barriers and facilitators of pharmacological adherence and effective evidence-based interventions to optimize it.
Methods: A scope review was conducted for the period 2015-2025. Forty-one observational and interventional scientific studies (clinical trials) were selected from PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and ScienceDirect. Initially, a search was performed in six databases covering public health, medicine, life sciences, and biomedicine (PubMed and ScienceDirect), evidence-based healthcare (Cochrane Library), social sciences, arts, and humanities (Scopus and Web of Science), and research output, with an emphasis on Latin America, Spain, and Portugal. The four databases with the largest number of publications on the older adult population were selected, including topics such as medication adherence (compliance with pharmacological treatment and prescribing recommendations), medication persistence (uninterrupted continuity in medication recovery and administration), and patient prioritization interventions using automated mechanisms. The final selection of articles was carried out by three experts, who performed a critical appraisal of the evidence. The discrepancies were resolved by two other…
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