Abstract:While several surveys have shown that psychotropic drugs are frequently used by nursing home residents, no studies have been performed to investigate whether the rates of drug use increase during the stay in nursing homes or whether residents have taken these drugs already before admission. Therefore, we investigated 262 residents admitted to rural and urban nursing homes in Austria for prevalence of psychotropic drug intake before admission, shortly after admission, and 6 months later. Two weeks after admissi… Show more
Objective: Despite considerable data from a number of countries regarding psychotropic utilization in long-term-care facilities for the elderly, there has been a lack of similar data from Canada. The purpose of this study was to gather prescription data from a series of institutions in Ontario and to compare the results to those of other international studies. Method: Single-day surveys were carried out in six homes for the aged, four nursing homes, two retirement homes, and a veterans' center. The results were compared to those of recent studies from other countries. Results: The data revealed considerable differences in rates of prescription between different classes of institutions and between similarly classified institutions. The prescription rate of neuroleptics ranged from 11.8% (of patients) in retirement homes to 29.8% in nursing homes. Antidepressant use ranged from 12.2% in nursing homes to 24.6% in homes for the aged, and benzodiazepine use ranged from 22.5% in nursing homes to 36.4% in retirement homes. Conclusions: The overall rate of prescription for psychotropic medications was somewhat lower than in most international studies. The rate of prescription of neuroleptics in nursing homes fell in the midrange of studies, somewhat higher than in recent studies from the United States and an earlier Italian study, but lower than in recent reports from Sweden, Austria, and Australia. The rate of neuroleptic use in homes for the aged was comparable to the rate in the U.S. studies. The overall rate of prescription of antidepressants and benzodiazepines appears to be comparable to that in recent studies from other countries.
Objective: Despite considerable data from a number of countries regarding psychotropic utilization in long-term-care facilities for the elderly, there has been a lack of similar data from Canada. The purpose of this study was to gather prescription data from a series of institutions in Ontario and to compare the results to those of other international studies. Method: Single-day surveys were carried out in six homes for the aged, four nursing homes, two retirement homes, and a veterans' center. The results were compared to those of recent studies from other countries. Results: The data revealed considerable differences in rates of prescription between different classes of institutions and between similarly classified institutions. The prescription rate of neuroleptics ranged from 11.8% (of patients) in retirement homes to 29.8% in nursing homes. Antidepressant use ranged from 12.2% in nursing homes to 24.6% in homes for the aged, and benzodiazepine use ranged from 22.5% in nursing homes to 36.4% in retirement homes. Conclusions: The overall rate of prescription for psychotropic medications was somewhat lower than in most international studies. The rate of prescription of neuroleptics in nursing homes fell in the midrange of studies, somewhat higher than in recent studies from the United States and an earlier Italian study, but lower than in recent reports from Sweden, Austria, and Australia. The rate of neuroleptic use in homes for the aged was comparable to the rate in the U.S. studies. The overall rate of prescription of antidepressants and benzodiazepines appears to be comparable to that in recent studies from other countries.
“…Psychotropic intake rate is high among community-dwelling elderly and is even higher in nursing home residents, in whom psychotropic drug treatment is often initiated after admission (Wancata et al, 1997;Bronskill et al, 2004). The limited effectiveness of certain psychotropic drugs such as antipsychotics (Ballard and Waite, 2006), antidepressants (Mittmann et al, 1997;Nelson et al, 2008) and benzodiazepines (Sim et al, 2007;Lader, 2008) has often been discussed.…”
As in other European countries, the prevalence of psychotropic utilisation in Belgian nursing homes is exceedingly high, with excessive duplicate use. Guidelines, education and clinical practice recommendations focusing on initiation, reassessment and withdrawal of psychotropic therapy, are needed.
“…The prevalence of psychotropic drug use among community-dwelling older persons (usually defined as those 65 years and older) varies from about 20% to 48% [3-5]. More than half of them take psychotropics for six months or longer, and are therefore considered long-term users [4,6,7].…”
BackgroundIn the many descriptive studies on prescribed psychotropic drug use by community-dwelling older persons, several sociodemographic and other factors associated with drug use receive inconsistent support.MethodEmpirical reports with data on at least benzodiazepine or antidepressant drug use in samples of older persons published between 1990 and 2001 (n = 32) were identified from major databases and analyzed to determine which factors are most frequently associated with psychotropic drug use in multivariate analyses. Methodological aspects were also examined.ResultsMost reports used probability samples of users and non-users and employed cross-sectional designs. Among variables considered in 5 or more reports, race, proximity to health centers, medical consultations, sleep complaints, and health perception were virtually always associated to drug use. Gender, mental health, and physical health status were associated in about two-thirds of reports. Associations with age, marital status, medication coverage, socioeconomic status, and social support were usually not observed.ConclusionsThe large variety of methods to operationalize drug use, mental health status, and social support probably affected the magnitude of observed relationships. Employing longitudinal designs and distinguishing short-term from long-term use, focusing on samples of drug users exclusively, defining drug use and drug classes more uniformly, and utilizing measures of psychological well-being rather than only of distress, might clarify the nature of observed associations and the direction of causality. Few studies tested specific hypotheses. Most studies focused on individual characteristics of respondents, neglecting the potential contribution of health care professionals to the phenomenon of psychotropic drug use among seniors.
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