- Title
- An observational study of psychotropic drug use and initiation in older patients resident in their own home or in care
- Creator
- McCowan, Colin; Magin, Parker; Clark, Stella Anne; Guthrie, Bruce
- Relation
- Age and Ageing Vol. 42, Issue 1, p. 51-56
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ageing/afs117
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press
- Resource Type
- journal article
- Date
- 2013
- Description
- Objective: to compare the prescription of psychotropic medications for patients living in care homes with that for patients living at home. Design and setting: retrospective population database study in the Tayside region of Scotland. Subjects: 70,297 patients aged ≥65 and followed until death or the end of the study. Methods: examining registered addresses for all people aged 65–99 identified those in care. The prescriptions for a 12-week period was examined and psychotropic drug use compared by their place of residence. Comparisons of prescriptions pre- and post-admission were performed for people admitted to a care home from Jan 2005 to Dec 2006. Results: people living in care (4.1%) received 9.80 more prescribed items (P < 0.001) from 1.63 more British National Formulary (BNF) categories (P < 0.001) than people living at home over a 12-week period. They were more likely to receive any psychotropic medication (42 versus 16%, odds ratio (OR) 3.09, 95% CI: 2.79–3.41). Over 70% of 1,715 people admitted to care homes during the study who received psychotropic medication commenced the medication prior to admission. Patients who started anti-psychotics in the 30 days prior to admission were less likely to have stopped them (OR: 0.53, 95% CI: 0.30–0.94). Conclusion: prolonged prescription of psychotropic medications is commonplace in care home residents. Almost half of the people prescribed antipsychotic drugs received them for a minimum of 6 months. Systematic medication reviews must be established in all care homes to promote safe and effective prescription to this at-risk population.
- Subject
- psychotropics; care homes; prescribing quality; family practice; patient safety; quality of health care; older people
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1318023
- Identifier
- uon:23552
- Identifier
- ISSN:0002-0729
- Language
- eng
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