New psychotropic medication use among Medicare beneficiaries with dementia after hospital discharge.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Hospitalizations among people with dementia (PWD) may precipitate behavioral changes, leading to the psychotropic medication use despite adverse outcomes and limited efficacy. We sought to determine the incidence of new psychotropic medication use among community-dwelling PWD after hospital discharge and, among new users, the proportion with prolonged use.

Methods

This was a retrospective cohort study using a 20% random sample of Medicare claims in 2017, including hospitalized PWD with traditional and Part D Medicare who were 68 years or older. The primary outcome was incident prescribing at discharge of psychotropics including antipsychotics, sedative-hypnotics, antiepileptics, and antidepressants. This was defined as new prescription fills (i.e., from classes no

SUBMITTER: Growdon ME 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10089969 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature