Ten-Year Trends in Psychotropic Prescribing and Polypharmacy in Australian General Practice Patients with and without Dementia.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

Little research has evaluated trends in psychotropic prescribing and polypharmacy in primary care patients, especially those with dementia. We sought to examine this in Australia from 2011 to 2020 using the primary care dataset, MedicineInsight.

Methods

Ten consecutive serial cross-sectional analyses were performed to evaluate the proportion of patients aged 65 years or more, with a recorded diagnosis of dementia, who were prescribed psychotropic medications within the first six months of each year from 2011 to 2020. This proportion was compared with propensity score-matched control patients without dementia.

Results

Before matching, 24,701 patients (59.2% females) with, and 72,105 patients (59.2% females) without, a recorded diagnosis of dementia were inclu

SUBMITTER: Bezabhe WM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10219058 | biostudies-literature | 2023 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature