Series details: CRDA/34

This survey was carried out by the Institute of Social Studies in Medical Care on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Security (DHSS) although it is not clear whether the final results of the survey were published. The aim of the survey was to examine the medicine-taking habits of a representative sample of elderly people and to look at the issues raised by this from the viewpoint of the elderly people, their lay carers (if appropriate) and their doctors. The principal aim of the survey was to use the data gathered to improve health care given to older people. The survey was intended to follow up a number of local surveys with a nationally based inquiry into the medicine taking of elderly people. It was established to examine the problems arising from the fact that older people are more likely to suffer from disability and disease and are therefore prescribed more medicines as a result. This in itself can lead to a variety of problems which the survey hoped to examine including drug inter-reactions, the possibility that elderly people may be more prone to side effects or more sensitive to certain drugs and problems caused by dual prescribing systems of hospitals and general practitioners.

The survey of the Elderly and their Medicines was carried out by the Institute of Social Studies in Medical Care on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Security.

The Institute for Social Studies in Medical Care was established in 1970 as an independent, non-profit research organisation. Prior to 1970 it was the Medical Care Research Unit of the Institute of Community Studies in Bethnal Green. Its aim was to study the social aspects of health care in ways that had a bearing on social policy. Within this rather broad field the Institute tended to concentrate on three principal areas of research: general practice, maternity services and the needs of elderly people. The Institute held charitable status and was funded by a variety of organisations including OPCS, the Ministry of Health and the US Public Health Service on a project basis. From 1975 it received a rolling grant from the DHSS in addition to grants for specific projects from other sources. Nothing further is known about the Institute, it no longer appears to be active.1

The study gathered data from a nationally representative sample of people born in 1919 or earlier, about the drugs they took and those that were prescribed for them. The survey examined the sources of the drugs taken by the respondents, the patterns of prescription and consumption. It also looked at the relationship between elderly people and their doctors and the general health and circumstances of those participating in the survey. Any problems perceived by the survey respondents that were associated with the medicines they were taking were also examined. The second phase of the study examined the situation from the point of view of the respondents' medical practitioners and attempted to identify discrepancies between what had been prescribed and what had been taken. The study also considered the interface between general practitioners and hospitals over prescribing for elderly people.

Face to face interviews using the main questionnaire were carried out with the elderly people selected to participate in the survey or in certain circumstances with their main carer. Carers or helpers were interviewed in situations where the elderly person was too ill or frail to be interviewed or where they were judged to be too confused about their medicine taking to give accurate responses. In such circumstances carers were interviewed if they were in control of the subject's medicine taking. The Institute of Social Studies in Medical Care aimed to study health issues from the viewpoint of both patients and professionals, consequently the sequence of interviews with elderly people and their carers was followed up by interviews with medical practitioners. The Institute's interviewers approached the subjects' general practitioners with the aim of carrying out a postal survey covering their views and practices when dealing with elderly patients. This was followed up by a questionnaire relating to individual patients.

Data was collected from elderly people living in ten parliamentary constituencies in England [North Thanet, Chingford, South Norfolk, Wirral West, Westbury (Wiltshire), West Gloucestershire, Leicester South, Newcastle upon Tyne North, St Helens North, Stockton North]. The Notes for Interviewers document (CRDA/34/DD/1/1) explains in greater detail how the interview sample was derived and can be seen via the Dataset Documentation Catalogue.2

The dataset will not accrue as it was based on a one-off study.

The dataset was transferred to NDAD from the Data Archive at the University of Essex where it was given the study number 2174.

The Elderly and their Medicines dataset and related dataset documentation are public records under the Public Records Acts 1958 and 1967. The Public Record Office has assigned this dataset the class reference BN 96

The data and related documentation in the Elderly and their Medicines dataset are open to users of NDAD on demand and do not require to be booked in advance.

The Elderly and their Medicines dataset is subject to Crown Copyright. Copies may be made for private study and research only.

The Elderly and their Medicines dataset is not subject to registration under the Data Protection Act.

The language of the materials is English.

Documents relating to the Elderly and their Medicines dataset have been transferred to NDAD. See the Dataset Documentation Catalogue for further details.

A copy of the dataset is also held at the Data Archive at the University of Essex (see Previous reference codes).

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There is a single dataset containing three tables, all three tables are derived from the two principal survey questionnaires. Further details of the file and field structures are contained in the dataset and related table catalogues: see Links to dataset catalogues,.

Data in the Elderly and their Medicines dataset is closed in that once collected the data was archived and was not subsequently overwritten.

Data was collected by means of interviews with a sample of elderly people and by follow up interviews with their medical practitioners. Copies of the survey questionnaires and explanatory notes for interviewers carrying out the survey may be seen via the Dataset Documentation Catalogue.

Details of the content and transformation validation checks performed by NDAD on the Elderly and their Medicines dataset are recorded in the catalogues of individual datasets.

Dataset catalogues provide more detailed information about individual datasets, and are currently available for the following dataset(s):

1. Dataset Documentation Catalogue, ref CRDA/34/DD/1/1, Notes for Interviewers pp. 1-4 contains background information on the Institute for Social Studies in Medical Care.

2. Ibid. pp 13-15