Physical activity is inversely related to drug consumption in elderly patients with cardiovascular events

Elderly patients with cardiovascular events are characterized by high drug consumptions. Whether high drug consumptions are related to physical activity is not known. In order to examine whether physical activity is related to drug consumption in the elderly, patients older than 65 years (n = 250) with a recent cardiovascular event were studied. Physical activity was analyzed according to the Physical Activity Scale for the Elderly (PASE) score and related to drug consumption. PASE score was 72.4 +/- 45.0 and drug consumption was 8.3 +/- 2.2. Elderly patients with greater comorbidity took more drugs (8.7 +/- 2.1) and are less active (PASE = 64.4 +/- 50.6) than patients with Cumulative Illness Rating Scale severity score higher than 1.8 than those with a score lower than 1.8 (76.3 +/- 41.4, p < 0.05, and 8.0 +/- 2.0, p = 0.006, respectively). Multivariate analysis correlation confirmed that PASE score is negatively associated with drug consumption (beta = -0.149, p = 0.031), independently of several variables including comorbidity. Thus, physical activity is inversely related to drug consumption in elderly patients with cardiovascular events. This inverse relationship may be attributable to the high degree of comorbidity observed in elderly patients in whom poor level of physical activity and high drug consumption are predominant.