Stella Florindo, Caetano Dorgival, Pacheco Jaime Lisandro, Sé Elisandra Villela Gasparetto, Lacerda Acioly Luiz Tavares
Universidade Estadual Paulista, Rio Claro, São Paulo, CEP 13506-4246, Brazil.
Sao Paulo Med J. 2006 Sep 7;124(5):253-6. doi: 10.1590/s1516-31802006000500003.
Although psychotropics are one of the classes of medications most prescribed in nursing homes for the elderly, studies examining prescribing patterns are limited in both number and scope. The present study was undertaken to investigate factors associated with general psychotropic use in a nursing home in Brazil.
Retrospective observational study at the Nursing Home for the Elderly, Institute of Biosciences, Universidade Estadual Paulista.
Information on prescriptions was retrieved from the medical records of 108 elderly residents in a nursing home. Sixty-five of these patients, with mean age 74.5 years (+/-standard deviation 9.4 years), who were taking medications on a regular basis, comprised the sample. The effects of demographic and clinical variables on the psychotropic prescription pattern were examined.
Females were more likely to receive psychotropics (p = 0.038). Individuals on medicines for cardiovascular diseases received psychotropics less frequently (p = 0.001). The number of prescribed psychotropics correlated negatively with both age (p = 0.009) and number of non-psychotropic drugs (p = 0.009).
Although preliminary, the present results indicated that cardiovascular disease was the clinical variable that most influenced psychotropic prescription. Physicians' overconcern regarding drug interactions might at least partially explain this result. Further investigations involving larger sample sizes from different regions are warranted to confirm these findings.
尽管精神药物是养老院中为老年人开具的最常用药物类别之一，但研究处方模式的研究在数量和范围上都很有限。本研究旨在调查巴西一家养老院中与一般精神药物使用相关的因素。
在圣保罗州立大学生物科学研究所养老院进行的回顾性观察研究。
从一家养老院108名老年居民的病历中获取处方信息。其中65名平均年龄74.5岁（标准差9.4岁）且定期服药的患者组成了样本。研究了人口统计学和临床变量对精神药物处方模式的影响。
女性更有可能接受精神药物治疗（p = 0.038）。服用心血管疾病药物的个体接受精神药物治疗的频率较低（p = 0.001）。开具的精神药物数量与年龄（p = 0.009）和非精神药物数量（p = 0.009）均呈负相关。
尽管本研究结果是初步的，但表明心血管疾病是对精神药物处方影响最大的临床变量。医生对药物相互作用的过度关注可能至少部分解释了这一结果。有必要进行进一步研究，纳入来自不同地区的更大样本量以证实这些发现。
