Abstract
Objectives: to outline the profile of drug consumption by patrons of community centers for the elderly in a city in Maranhão. Methods: This is a descriptive, cross-sectional study with a quantitative approach through the application form, a stratified sample of 102 elderly. Results: showed that the majority of respondents (82.4 %) had a problem due to the drug used, of which 66.7 % identified as the main problem for the drug used, dizziness. The prevalence rate of use of non-prescription drugs was 33.3 %; and of these, 76.5 % identified as main drug used dipyrone. The administration of drugs is carried out mostly (80.4 %), the elderly themselves. The main morbidity that research participants reported having through medical diagnosis was hypertension (36%), which supports the most widely used drug class, anti -hypertensive (23%), and the active ingredient most used, losartan potassium (32%). Conclusion: Family income influenced the practice of obtaining drugs by SUS. The pharmacotherapeutic monitoring process of the elderly patient is fundamental to the achievement of rational use of medicines and to contribute to the educational process of these users, carrying out an assessment of the drugs used by them, as the complexity of regimen, cost and compliance.