Psychiatria Danubina, Vol. 28 No. 1, 2016.
Recenzija, Prikaz slučaja
PSYCHOTROPIC MEDICATIONS IN OLDER ADULTS: A REVIEW
Mario Ćurković
orcid.org/0000-0003-0101-0254
; Department of Family Medicine, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Medical School Osijek, Osijek, Croatia
Katarina Dodig-Ćurković
; Department of Psychiatry, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Medical School Osijek, Osijek, Croatia
Anamarija Petek Erić
; Department of Psychiatry, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Medical School Osijek, Osijek, Croatia
Kristina Kralik
; Department of Biophysics, Medical Statistics and Medical Informatics, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, Medical School Osijek, Osijek, Croatia
Nela Pivac
; Division of Molecular Medicine, Rudjer Boskovic Institute, Zagreb, Croatia
Sažetak
Background: Prevalence of prescribing psychotropic medications, particularly inappropriate prescription, is widespread in
older adults, both in nursing home residents as well as community-dwelling older adults. This review describes prevalence and
prevention of inappropriate prescribing and risk factors associated with psychotropic medications.
Methods: MEDLINE and GOOGLE SCHOLAR data base were searched for the key words “older adults”, “psychotropic drugs”,
”inappropriate prescribing”, “nursing home residents”, community-dwelling older adults”. The study was limited to the articles
published in English in the period from 2007 to 2014. The list of references includes additional articles that were searched manually.
Results: The utilization of different psychotropic medications is prevalent among older adults worldwide, regardless of whether
they live in nursing homes or in the community. Among older adults, nursing home residents are the most vulnerable individuals for
potentially inappropriate drug prescription. The most common potentially inappropriate prescribed medications in the elderly are
benzodiazepines, particularly long-acting, antipsychotics and antidepressants, particularly SSRIs. All classes of listed medications
have been associated with different adverse events, particularly falls and falls-related fractures and increased risk for mortality.
Many different pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions, such as monitoring polypharmacy, reviewing medications,
spending more time in the institution by a physician, reducing the number of prescribers in the institution as well as greater
involvement of geriatricians, general practitioners and pharmacists should be implemented to reduce this health issue.
Conclusion: The prevalence of prescribing psychotropic medications to older adults is high. Inappropriate prescribing of
psychotropic drugs and polypharmacy are present in institutionalized and non-institutionalized older adults and can cause adverse
health events, and can significantly reduce the quality of life of these vulnerable groups. Multidisciplinary approach is needed in
addressing widespread problem of prevalence of psychotropic medications in older adults.
Ključne riječi
Hrčak ID:
154746
URI
Datum izdavanja:
29.3.2016.
Posjeta: 2.106 *