Psychotropic drug use in an Italian general hospital.

The present study is a survey of psychotropic drug use patterns among 1860 patients admitted to Padova General Hospital in North-East Italy. Our results show that 23% of the patients took psychotropic drugs for almost their entire stay in hospital. The drugs most commonly used are anxiolytics and hypnotics, both of the benzodiazepine class. The use of barbiturates as hypnotics has almost disappeared. Some significant correlations between the use of psychotropic drugs and socio-demographic factors were also found. Women, widows and widowers, retired and elderly persons seem to be at higher risk in the use of psychotropic drugs. The meaning and implications of these results are discussed.