Compliance of psychotropic drug prescription with clinical practice guidelines in older in- XXXX .

@entity1 @entity73 @entity1245 @entity146
UNASSIGNED: Several practice guidelines were published by French regulatory agencies between 2006 and 2009 to improve psychotropic drug use in older @entity1 . The objectives of the study were to assess compliance with these guidelines in older @entity1 hospitalized in @entity146 units and to identify characteristics associated with compliance. A cross-sectional study was conducted in 117 @entity1 aged 65 years and older hospitalized in two @entity146 departments of a public hospital, at three dates randomly chosen between January and May 2014. Medical and sociodemographic characteristics were collected from electronic medical records. In all, 8% of psychotropic prescriptions were compliant with guidelines. 98% of antidepressant prescriptions complied with guidelines for product selection (no tricyclics) and 72% for initial dosage (half of that recommended for younger adults). Regarding @entity1245 , short half-life drugs were chosen in 73% of treatments, low maintenance dosage was found in 64% of treatments, and a discontinuous administration rhythm was noted in 33% of treatments. Regarding antipsychotics, initial dosage was a quarter of the allowed initial dosage for younger adults in 39% of prescriptions and metabolic blood testing was performed in 17% of prescriptions. @entity73 was monitored in 41% and 61% of prescriptions, respectively. Few clinical factors were found to be associated with compliance or noncompliance with guidelines in older @entity146 inpatients. Practice guidelines on psychotropic drug prescription were partially respected in older inpatients. Practitioners should take into account the risks associated with non-recommended patterns of psychotropic drug use in this vulnerable population. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
