Objective  To investigate the influence of economic condition and medical burden on medication behaviors among community elderly and to provide evidences for developing support policies for the elderly's medication.

  Methods  Using cluster random sampling, we selected 3 612 residents aged 75 years and above residing in regions covered by 10 community health service centers affiliated to a grade III and a grade II hospitals in Tangshan city of Hebei province and conducted a household questionnaire survey on demographics, medication behavior, household income and expenditure, and medical burden among the elderly from July 2016 to January 2017.

  Results  Of the 3 448 elderly with valid information, 73.5% reported taking one or more drugs for a long time and 28.9% reported a long-term taking of three or more drugs. The mean index value for medication behavior was 30.16 ± 4.68 for all the elderly. Both univariate and multivariate analysis indicated that medical burden (standardized regression coefficient: – 0.148), education (0.111), medical care expenditure (0.076), income (0.067), and the amount of money given to their children (0.059) were significant influencing factors for medication behaviors among the elderly.

  Conclusion  Medication behavior is closely related to economic condition and medical burden among community elderly and reducing medical burden and improving health care services can regulate medication behaviors effectively in the elderly.