Psychotropic drug prescription for nursing home residents with dementia: prevalence and associations with non-resident-related factors

Abstract

Prescription rates for antipsychotics are similar compared to other countries, and relatively low for antidepressants, anxiolytics, and hypnotics. Our findings indicate that improvement of prescribing could provisionally best be targeted at resident-related factors.

Can the PROPER intervention reduce psychotropic drug prescription in nursing home residents with dementia? Results of a cluster-randomized controlled trial

“…Second, we were unable to operationalize the correction for the occurrence of neuropsychiatric symptoms throughout the study in the analyses. Knowing that neuropsychiatric symptoms are the most important factor for prescription of psychotropic drugs, we would have preferred to include these in our model (Smeets et al, 2017). However, this would have raised the issue of how to operationalize this correction.…”

The Prevalence of and Documented Indications for Antipsychotic Prescribing in Irish Nursing Homes

“…Despite the warnings and the plethora of studies conducted across various settings and countries reporting adverse effects of these drugs, the use of APMs in the nursing home setting is reported to be high [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30][31]. The prevalence of APM use in nursing homes varies significantly between countries, with reports ranging from 12% to >50% prevalence [16,18,20].…”

The health professional experience of using antipsychotic medication for dementia in care homes: A study using grounded theory and focussing on inappropriate prescribing

“…These authors found access to consultants and the nursing home setting to be relevant. Interestingly, a more recent quantitative analysis by this group, questions the extent to which nonresident‐related factors are associated with psychotropic drug prescription (Smeets et al., ). There is already strong evidence that the unit size, spatial layout, homelike character, sensory stimulation, and environmental characteristics of social spaces effect the behaviours and well‐being of people with dementia living in care facilities (Chaudhury, Cooke, Cowie, & Razaghi, ).…”