Psychotropic drug use in elderly people with and without dementia

Objective To determine the prevalence of psychotropic drug use in very old persons with and without dementia in two time periods, and describe the pat terns of psychotropic drug use between institutions and non-institutions. Methods Descriptive analysis on a sample of subjects aged 81+ from a popula tion-based study in Stockholm, Sweden. Psychotropic drug use data were coll ected from the 1987-1989 and 1994-1996 periods of the study. The diagnosis of dementia was based on the DSM III-R. Results About 41% of the subjects used at least one psychotropic drug in bo th periods. Women and subjects in institutions more commonly used psychotro pic drugs. The most commonly reported were, in rank order, hypnotics-sedati ves, anxiolytics, antipsychotics and antidepressants. Hypnotics-sedatives a nd anxiolytics were the most commonly used in both institutions and non-ins titutions. More persons with dementia used psychotropic drugs in both perio ds. The use of newer drugs, for example, SSRI, was evident. Multivariate an alyses showed increased risk for psychotropic drug use among subjects in in stitutions. Conclusions This study confirms the high rate of psychotropic drug use in t he very old, particularly in persons with dementia. Psychotropic drug use w as high among subjects living in institutions. Copyright (C) 2001 John Wile y & Sons, Ltd.