FACTORS RELATED TO CURRENT AND SUBSEQUENT PSYCHOTROPIC-DRUG USE IN ANELDERLY COHORT

Aims of the study: The purpose of this study was to estimate the preva lence of psychotropic drug use in a cohort of elderly persons and to e xamine factors related to current and subsequent drug use. Population: A representative cohort of non-institutionalized subjects aged 65 and over living in New Haven, Connecticut, was interviewed in 1982, and a gain in 1985 and 1988. Psychotropic drug use during the prior two week s was assessed at each home interview. Results: At the baseline interv iew in 1982, 12.3% of the subjects reported using psychotropic drugs, half of them (6.25%) benzodiazepines. In multivariate analyses, psycho tropic drug use was significantly associated with female gender and wh ite ethnicity but not with older age. Psychotropic drug use and depres sive symptomatology were strongly correlated in both genders. However, less than 5% of the subjects reporting high depressive symptomatology were using antidepressants. Psychotropic drug use was also associated with sleep problems in men and medical conditions in women. Psychotro pic drug consumption increased slightly to 15.1% in 1988. Continuous u se (use reported in 1982, 1985 and 1988) was found in 4.5% of the samp le; it was strongly related to both depressive symptomatology and slee p problems reported at baseline. New use, beginning either in 1985 or in 1988, was observed in 12.6% of the sample; it was related to female gender, older age, and, among baseline health variables, to depressiv e symptomatology. Conclusions: Prevalence of psychotropic drug use in this cohort of elderly people was lower than in other studies conducte d in the U.S. The reasons for this variation are discussed. Continuous use was not higher for benzodiazepines than for other psychotropic dr ugs. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Inc.