The long‐term use of psychotropic drugs: A follow‐up study in italian general practice

Abstract

AbstractFour general practitioners (GPs) of Verona, a town in northern Italy of about 300,000 inhabitants, recruited in 1986 a cohort of 75 adult patients to whom they prescribed benzodiazepines or antidepressants for the “first time”. The patients, new users of psychotropic drugs, were 51 women (68 per cent) and 24 men (32 per cent). They were followed up during the 26 weeks after the first psychotropic drug prescription. At the end of the study 20 patients (26·7 per cent of the original cohort‐–“long‐term” users) were still consuming psychotropic drugs (mainly benzodiazepines with or without an antidepressant). Severity of psychiatric symptoms (only for patients over 45 years), prescriptions of an antidepressant (but only for women under 45 years) and low educational level (only in males over 45 years) were identified as factors associated with long‐term psychotropic drug consumption.