Hypnotic usage in residential homes for the elderly: a prevalence and longitudinal analysis.

The usage of hypnotic drugs in 23 local authority homes for the elderly was recorded in a one-day point-prevalence survey. Residents were under the care of their own general practitioners. From a total population of 1122 residents, 382 (34.0%) received hypnotics both on the night of the survey, and on the preceding night. The proportion of residents receiving hypnotics within each home varied from 2.3% to 56.5%. No preference was shown for prescribing short half-life hypnotics. The most frequently used hypnotic was nitrazepam, which accounted for 33.2% of total usage. These data were then compared with information similarly recorded from the same local authority homes six months earlier. The pattern and prevalence of drug usage showed little variation between the two surveys.