Australians are living longer than ever before. While this is broadly good news, ageing well comes with a range of challenges.

As people grow older, they’re more likely to develop multiple chronic conditions, including heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, and cognitive problems such as dementia.

These conditions often mean people need to take more medications. Around one in three Australians aged over 70 take five or more different medications. While these can be important, and even lifesaving, managing multiple medications can become a major challenge in itself.

We wanted to understand more about how older Australians use medications. In a new study, we looked at ten years of national data from the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS), which subsidises medications for eligible Australians.

Using a 10% sample of Australians between 2013–23, we examined how often people aged 65 and over visited prescribers and pharmacies for the dispensing of their PBS medicines. Prescribers included GPs and other medical specialists, for example.

We found older Australians visited their prescribers an average of five times a year and made 16 pharmacy visits annually for the supply of their PBS medications. In 2023, people over 65 had an average of 31 PBS-subsidised medicines dispensed throughout the year (this figure may include repeats of the same medicine).

We also........

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