Objectives: The elderly population in Iran is increasing and they likely use more drugs than any other age groups. The older adults are often suffered from chronic conditions that may require long-term medical treatment, and likely involve multiple drug therapies and may consume up to four times as many defined daily doses as the rest of the population. Therefore we examined the drug used pattern in people of 55 years age and older and its association with their demographic characteristics.

Methods & Materials: This study is cross-sectional. Information on the intake of all drugs was collected from 400 subjects of 55 years age and older residents in Tehran, randomly selected and interviewed at home by a brief questionnaire regarding personal, social and medical factors.

Results: The average number daily drugs used were 3.4±1.9 different drugs, 40% used 4 or more drugs daily, %35 visited several physicians for the same illness, and 19% experienced adverse drug reactions. The most commonly used drugs were ASA, Atenolol, and propranolol. Pattern of drug consumption between the two genders, different age groups, level of educations and economic status except for ASA were similar. The most used drug categories were cardiovascular drugs (%35), central nervous system drugs (%25) and hormones (%9). The most common sources of drug information were physician’s %86.

Conclusion: Patient education, physicians and pharmacists' education in feedback systems and regulatory intervention can improve the drug prescribing and usage in older persons.

Objectives: Retirement impacts different dimensions of life such as physical, psychological, social, economic, and spiritual aspects. Since identification of the factors promoting or demoting health situation of retirees is important; this study aimed to determine the level of retirement syndrome in Babol retirees.

Methods & Materials: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 205 retirees aged over 50 years. Data were gathered by a questionnaire consisting of 2 sections; Demographic characteristics and retirement syndromes. Retirement syndrome questionnaire consisted of 40 questions in 5-point scale (“never” to “always”) in 4 dimensions of “helplessness and failure”, “older and idleness”, “trying and new directions”, and “conflict and confusion”. Data were analyzed by SPSS. The Pearson and Spearman tests were used to evaluate the within group variables. To analyze the data, the correlation coefficient test, t-test, and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were performed. The significant level for all tests was set at 0.05.

Results: About 53% of the participants were male and 47% female with an average (SD) age 61.13(5.87) years. Means(SD) scores of “helplessness and failure”, “older and idleness”, “trying and new directions”, and “conflict and confusion” were 2.08(0.52), 3.73(0.51), 3.47(0.65) and 2.49(0.56), respectively. There were a direct significant association between “feeling helplessness” and “conflict and confusion” (P<0.0001) and a reverse relationship between “older and idleness” and “trying and new directions” (P<0.0001).

Conclusion: Findings of this research showed that retirees of Babol County partly suffer from retirement syndrome. Therefore, paying attention to them and promotion of the retirees’ situation seems necessary.

Objectives: Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive and degenerative disease of the brain that severely damages the thinking and memory functions of human beings. This disease is the most common form of dementia, which comprises a set of signs and symptoms such as loss of memory, judgment, and reasoning that subsequently changes the attitude, behavior, and communication ability. Taking care of people with Alzheimer’s disease can become very stressful for their families. Group cognitivebehavioral therapy has played an important role in teaching how to use compatible coping strategies. Thus, this research aimed to investigate the effectiveness of group cognitive-behavioral therapy on strategies for coping with stress of family caregivers of patients with Alzheimer’s disease.
Methods & Materials: This research was conducted using a quasi-experimental design. The study sample comprised 32 voluntary caregivers as per Iran's Alzheimer Community Care in 2011. They were selected by convenience sampling method and were randomly assigned into experimental and control groups. We used the questionnaire of coping inventory with stressful situations (CISS), which was completed before group therapy and after the treatment course in 3 stages of pretest, posttest, and follow-up. Data analysis was performed by analysis of covariance, multivariate analysis of covariance, and repeated measures.
Results: The results showed that the components of compatible strategies (problem-oriented and social entertainment) in the experimental group were significantly increased compared to pretest and control group due to cognitive-behavioral therapy (P=0.001). However, the components of incompatible strategies (emotionoriented and attention processing) due to cognitive-behavioral therapy was significantly decreased in the experimental group compared to the pretest and control group (P=0.001). The results of repeated measuring plan between 3 stages of pretest, posttest, and follow-up showed that the effects of cognitive-behavioral therapy on increasing compatible coping style (problem-oriented and social entertainment) and decreasing incompatible coping style (emotion-oriented and attention processing) as well as the effect of intergroup actions and repetition were significant. There was also a significant difference between experimental group and control group. With regard to the above-mentioned results, cognitive-behavioral group therapy could have significant effects on increasing use of coping strategies with compatible stress and decreasing use of coping strategies with incompatible stress in the family members of Alzheimer’s patients. Moreover, the time factor was ineffective in lowering the effect of cognitive-behavioral therapy from posttest to follow-up period.
Conclusion: Based on the results, the group cognitive-behavioral therapy can increase the use of compatible strategies for coping with stress and decrease the use of incompatible strategies. This issue is related to factors such as complete understanding of Alzheimer’s disease and its effects, creating an atmosphere for presentation and an opportunity for social interaction, understanding the importance of sport and allocating time for recreational activities, learning body relaxation in stressful situations, understanding life problems, solving problem techniques, feeling of control, and time management. Thus, we recommend using group cognitivebehavioral therapy as a low-cost treatment for family caregivers of patients with Alzheimer’s and patients with chronic diseases.

Objectives: Medication is an essential component of care for elderly patients, and optimizing their process of treatment is often a challenging task. The aim of this study was to evaluate the status of appropriate non-prescribed drugs in 60 elderly patients hospitalized in the teaching and non-teaching hospitals in the University of Medical Sciences employing the START screening tool.
Methods & Materials: This cross-sectional study included 400 elderly patients who were randomly selected from various divisions of the hospital (CCU, ENT, ICU General, Orthopedics, Surgery General, and Internal) and were hospitalized within six months duration (from June to December 2013). The data of the selected patients were collected from the hospital records in order to determine the appropriate medications prescribed based on the criterion START. The data was analyzed- using software Excel 2013 and SPSS 18, and the relationship between the variables was determined using the chi-square test, Mann-Whitney, and Spearman correlation coefficient.
Results: The average age of the elderly patients was reported to be 73.4 years. Cardiovascular disease had the largest prevalence (21.6%) and diabetes (3.0) had the lowest prevalence among the elderly patients. The total number of drugs prescribed for patients was 4744, of which 158 patients (39.6%) were not prescribed with at least one appropriate medication. In non-training and training hospitals, the most appropriate medications that were not prescribed according to START were related to the bisphosphonates (11.7% vs. 13.3%) and anti-diabetic (8.3% vs. 11.4%) categories. A significant relationship was noted between the average numbers of non-prescribed appropriate medications and the length of stay of patients in teaching hospitals. 
Conclusion: Since issues relating to the appropriate medications prescribed among the elderly can have serious implications, the drugs prescribed for the elderly are very important. Supervising the prescription, supply, and rational use of drugs is very vital and effective and acts as an integral part of the health budget allocated to the drug. Therefore, hospitals need to readily consult with the trained physicians and consider the expert opinions of clinical pharmacists in handling this problem.