Kralj Mirjana, Šolić Krešimir, Lovrić Robert
Faculty of Medicine, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, 31000 Osijek, Croatia.
Nursing Institute "Professor Radivoje Radić", Faculty of Dental Medicine and Health Osijek, Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek, 31000 Osijek, Croatia.
Healthcare (Basel). 2023 Nov 6;11(21):2908. doi: 10.3390/healthcare11212908.
Nowadays, the growing number of people aged 65+ has become a global phenomenon. At that age, the most common medical problems are multimorbidity and inappropriate polypharmacy, which have a negative impact on the quality of life in older adults. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to examine comorbidity, the use of psychopharmaceuticals, and symptoms of addiction to anxiolytics among older adults living at home or in retirement homes, and to examine the differences in quality of life in relation to the use and misuse of psychotropic drugs. The research included 383 people aged 65+ living in the Republic of Croatia (EU). A standardized questionnaire CAGE was used to collect data about the use of psychotropic drugs. Quality of life was examined using the WHOQOL-BREF scale. The average age of respondents was 83 years. There is a significantly higher prevalence of anxiety disorders ( = 0.001) in respondents who live at home. Psychopharmaceuticals were used by 218 (56.9%) respondents, equally in both groups of respondents. A total of 77 (20.1%) respondents had been using anxiolytics for more than five years, while 26 (6.8%) of them had significant clinical symptoms of addiction to anxiolytics. All domains and the overall quality of life scale were significantly lower ( < 0.001) in respondents who have clinical symptoms of anxiolytic addiction. The results indicate that the use of psychotropic drugs by respondents is inappropriate. Respondents who inappropriately and excessively use psychotropic drugs have a significantly worse quality of life.
如今，65岁及以上人口数量的不断增长已成为一种全球现象。在那个年龄段，最常见的医疗问题是多种疾病并存和不适当的多药联用，这对老年人的生活质量有负面影响。这项横断面研究的目的是调查居家或住在养老院的老年人的合并症、精神药物的使用以及抗焦虑药成瘾症状，并研究与精神药物的使用和滥用相关的生活质量差异。该研究纳入了383名居住在克罗地亚共和国（欧盟）的65岁及以上老年人。使用标准化问卷CAGE收集有关精神药物使用的数据。使用世界卫生组织生活质量简表（WHOQOL-BREF）来调查生活质量。受访者的平均年龄为83岁。居家的受访者中焦虑症的患病率显著更高（ = 0.001）。218名（56.9%）受访者使用了精神药物，两组受访者的使用情况相同。共有77名（20.1%）受访者使用抗焦虑药超过五年，其中26名（6.8%）有抗焦虑药成瘾的显著临床症状。有抗焦虑药成瘾临床症状的受访者在所有领域以及总体生活质量量表上的得分均显著更低（ < 0.001）。结果表明，受访者使用精神药物的情况并不恰当。不适当且过度使用精神药物的受访者生活质量明显更差。
