Use Of Antipsychotics In Patients Research Articles

Antipsychotics Linked to Increased Risk of Adverse Outcomes in Patients with Dementia.

According to this study: Use of antipsychotics in patients with dementia is associated with an increased risk of a wide range of serious adverse outcomes, particularly soon after the initiation of treatment.Antipsychotics are associated with a wider range of risks than previously known, and any potential benefits must be weighed against the risk of serious harm.

Medication related problems in elderly patients treated with antipsychotics

AbstractElderly patients treated with antipsychotics are often prescribed multiple medications simultaneously (polypharmacy), leading to an increased risk of various medication-related problems, including irrational polypharmacy, drug-drug interactions, and potentially inappropriate medications (PIMs). Polypharmacy may be rational with clear indications and benefits, but it becomes irrational when better alternatives are available. This irrational polypharmacy is associated with poorer clinical and economic outcomes, including a higher mortality rate. Antipsychotic polypharmacy in elderly patients with schizophrenia is not well-studied and, therefore, is not generally recommended. Long-term antipsychotic use in patients with dementia has also been linked to a higher mortality rate. PIMs, representing a greater risk than benefit, are prevalent in mental health institutions at all healthcare levels, with a prevalence ranging from 40% to 60%. Antipsychotics, along with benzodiazepines, are among the most commonly included in PIMs and polypharmacy in these institutions. Moreover, antipsychotics are frequently implicated in potential severe drug-drug interactions in elderly patients with mental disorders, particularly with antibiotics and antiarrhythmics.Unfortunately, the existing treatment guidelines and meta-analyses mostly do not cover these aspects, which represent a gap between the ‘real clinical’ pharmacology and treatment guidelines. The speaker will summarize the medication-related problems in this population and present practical recommendations for daily clinical practice.Disclosure of InterestNone Declared

Antipsychotics in child and adolescent patients with major depressive disorder: A retrospective analysis of prescribing patterns.

Depression rates in children/adolescents in the United States have increased in the last 10 years. Fluoxetine and escitalopram are the only 2 antidepressants approved for the treatment of major depression disorder (MDD) in children/adolescents. In adults, some antipsychotics are approved for augmented treatment of MDD. However, there is limited research on antipsychotic augmentation in child/adolescent MDD. This retrospective chart review evaluated antipsychotic prescribing for MDD in hospitalized patients aged 4 to 17 years to determine the frequency of prescribing antipsychotics for MDD and what factors influence the addition of an antipsychotic. For inclusion, patients were diagnosed with MDD and not on an antidepressant or antipsychotic before admission. Binomial logistic regression was used to analyze variables with prescribed antipsychotics as the dependent variable. There were 6.8% of patients prescribed an antipsychotic. Binomial logistic regression analysis found that increased age (odds ratio [OR] 1.28; 95% CI = 1.045, 1.568; P = .017) and multiple admissions within 1 year (OR 3.277; 95% CI = 2.283, 4.705; P < .001) were associated with the use of antipsychotics in patients with MDD. Posttraumatic stress disorder and disruptive mood dysregulation disorder were also associated with the use of antipsychotics. Careful consideration should be taken when using off-label antipsychotics in children due to limited studies on efficacy. Future research is warranted to assess the efficacy and safety of these agents in children and adolescents.

Length of stay is related to inpatient antipsychotic use in Alzheimer type dementia at a large US based tertiary care hospital.

AbstractBackgroundAntipsychotic(AP) medications carry a black box warning for increased risk of death in the elderly and should be used judiciously in a dementia population. Studies have shown that encounters with healthcare facilities increase the risk of AP exposure1. We wanted to know how admissions at our institution impacted antipsychotic use in patients with Alzheimer’s disease. Here we describe the results of a retrospective analysis of inpatient antipsychotic use in patients with Alzheimer’s disease at Northwestern Memorial Hospital(NMH), Chicago IL.MethodOur cohort was generated using NMH’s Enterprise Data Warehouse, including patients over 65 with a chart diagnosis of AD admitted to the hospital for over 48hrs between May 2005 and March 2018. We excluded patients with schizophrenia, schizotypal disorder, bipolar disorder, or psychotic illness due to primary psychiatric disease, enrollment in hospice, presence of tracheostomy or PEG‐tube and pervasive developmental disorder.Result1712 patients were admitted for a total of 4603 admissions amounting to 25,721 hospital days during the period of analysis. Demographic information is provided in Table 1. A higher proportion of admissions were four days or longer in encounters with an antipsychotic(Figure 1). Though longer LOS becomes progressively less common, this trend continued through a LOS of 20 days. When comparing LOS for encounters with an AP in the home medication list to encounters without, there was no impact on LOS. However, when comparing encounters with an AP prescribed while inpatient to encounters without, inpatient AP administration was associated with a longer length of stay (Table 2).ConclusionThese findings indicate that a longer LOS is associated with antipsychotic use. Because a longer length of stay was associated with new antipsychotic use but not the continuation of a home antipsychotic, our findings suggest that length of stay may contribute to behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia requiring pharmacological treatment.1. Koponen M, Lavikainen P, Taipale H, et al. Accumulation of Hospital Days Among Antipsychotic Initiators With Alzheimer’s Disease. J Am Med Dir Assoc. 2019;20(12):1488‐1494.e3. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jamda.2019.07.009

Post-discharge use of antipsychotics in patients with hospital-acquired delirium and associated risk of mortality - A population-based nested case-control study.

To evaluate post-discharge use of antipsychotics in patients with incident hospital-acquired delirium and the associated risk of mortality. We conducted a nested case-control study for patients newly diagnosed with hospital-acquired delirium and subsequently discharged from hospital using Taiwan's National Health Insurance Database (NHID) from 2011 to 2018. The use of antipsychotics after discharge did not increase the risk of mortality (adjusted OR: 1·03; 95% CI: 0·98-1·09). The findings suggested that using antipsychotics after discharge in patients with hospital-acquired delirium may not increase the risk of mortality.

761: ANTIDEPRESSANT AND ANTIPSYCHOTIC PRESCRIBING FOLLOWING ICU ADMISSION DUE TO COVID-19

Introduction: Patients with post-intensive care syndrome (PICS) suffer from a constellation of cognitive, mental, and physical effects. Previous studies have demonstrated increased antidepressant prescribing in patients with PICS. The purpose of this study was to examine the rates of antidepressant and antipsychotic use in patients with PICS following critical illness due to COVID-19. Methods: This was a retrospective chart review of adult patients (>18 years old) with PICS following critical illness due to COVID-19 who had at least 1 visit to the ICU survivor clinic at IU Health between September 2020 and July 2022. Patients were excluded if they were never admitted to the ICU, were admitted to a non IU Health ICU, or if they had incomplete medical records. The primary endpoint was the rate of combined antidepressant and antipsychotic use before ICU admission compared to their last clinic visit. The chi-square test was used to compare nominal data. Results: A total of 117 patients presented to the survivor clinic during the study time period. 35 patients were included in the analysis. Patients had a mean (+/- SD) age 53 (+/- 17) years and tended to be Caucasian 23 (66%) with low rates of having a college degree 6 (17%). During their ICU stays patients there were high rates of mechanical ventilation 24 (69%). While use of ECMO 9 (26%) and documented delirium 10 (28%) were less frequent. Underlying conditions identified at the initial clinic visit included cognitive impairment 20 (57%), depression 11 (31%), anxiety 8 (23%), and PTSD 4 (11%). Antidepressant and antipsychotic use was higher at the last clinic visit when compared to prior to ICU admission [16 (46%) vs. 5 (14%); p=0.0041]. At the time of the last clinic visit none of the 16 patients were receiving an antipsychotic while all were receiving an antidepressant. Conclusions: Patients with PICS following critical illness due to COVID-19 have an increased rate of antidepressant prescribing use compared to pre-illness. Further research is needed regarding the management and outcomes of these patients following critical illness due to COVID-19.

Demographics and Medication Use of Patients with Late-Onset Alzheimer's Disease in Hong Kong.

Background:Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia in the elderly population. However, epidemiological studies on the demographics of AD in Hong Kong population are lacking.Objective:We investigated the demographics, comorbidities, mortality rates, and medication use of patients with AD in Hong Kong to understand how the disease has been managed locally.Methods:This was a collaborative study of The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and the Hospital Authority Data Collaboration Lab. We analyzed the demographic data, clinical records, diagnoses, and medication records of patients with AD under the care of the Hospital Authority between January 1, 2007 and December 31, 2017.Results:We identified 23,467 patients diagnosed with AD. The median age at diagnosis was 84 years old, and 71% of patients were female. The most common comorbidity was hypertension (52.6%). 39.9% of patients received medications for dementia; of those, 68.4% had taken those medications for > 1 year. Compared to nonusers, long-term AD medication users had a significantly younger age of AD onset and were taking more lipid-regulating medication, diabetes medication, or antidepressants. Surprisingly, the use of antipsychotics in patients with AD was quite common; 50.7% of patients had received any type of antipsychotic during disease progression.Conclusion:This study provides detailed information on the demographics and medication use of patients with AD in Hong Kong. The data from this AD cohort will aid our future research aiming to identify potential AD risk factors and associations between AD and other diseases.

Evaluation of Antipsychotic Reduction Efforts in Patients With Dementia in Veterans Health Administration Nursing Homes.

The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) each created initiatives to reduce off-label use of antipsychotics in patients with dementia in nursing homes. Although CMS has reported antipsychotic reductions, the impact on prescribing of antipsychotic and other CNS-active medications in the VHA remains unclear. The authors evaluated national trends in antipsychotic and other CNS-active medication prescribing for nursing home patients with dementia in the VHA. The study sample was all veterans with dementia residing in VHA nursing homes for more than 30 days (N=35,742). Using an interrupted time-series design, the quarterly prevalences of antipsychotic, antidepressant, antiepileptic, anxiolytic, opioid, and memory medication prescribing were evaluated from FY2009 through FY2018. Antipsychotic prescribing in VHA nursing homes declined from FY2009 to FY2018 (from 33.7% to 27.5%), with similar declines in anxiolytic prescribing (from 33.5% to 27.1%). During this period, prescribing of antiepileptics, antidepressants, and opioids increased significantly (antiepileptics: from 26.8% to 43.3%; antidepressants: from 56.8% to 63.4%; opioids: from 32.6% to 41.2%). Gabapentin served as the main driver of antiepileptic increases (from 11.1% to 23.5%). Increases in antidepressant prescribing included sertraline, mirtazapine, and trazodone. From FY2009 to FY2018, the overall prescribing of non-antipsychotic psychotropic medications grew from 75.0% to 81.1%. Antipsychotic and anxiolytic prescribing for VHA nursing home residents with dementia declined, although overall prescribing of other psychotropic and opioid medications increased. Policies focused primarily on reducing antipsychotic use without considering use in the context of other medications may contribute to growth in alternative medication classes with even less evidence of benefit and similar risks.

Antipsychotic prescribing patterns in Australia: a retrospective analysis

BackgroundTo examine real-world patterns of antipsychotic use in patients with schizophrenia Australia.MethodsThis retrospective cohort analysis was conducted using the Australian Commonwealth Department of Human Services Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) 10% sample data. Included data were for patients aged 16-years or older who initiated treatment for the first time with a PBS-reimbursed antipsychotic medication for schizophrenia between July 2013 and September 2017. Patterns of treatment usage were summarised descriptively. Differences in prescribing patterns by age and prescribing year were reported. Treatment persistence was estimated using Kaplan-Meier methods, with differences explored using log-rank tests. Values of p < 0.05 were considered statistically significant.Results6,740 patients, representing 8,249 non-unique patients, received prescriptions for antipsychotic medications. Patients were aged 16 years to over 85 years (54.5% were < 55 years) and two-thirds of patients were male (61%). The majority of treatment episodes (62%, n = 5,139/8,249) were prescribed an atypical oral antipsychotic. Typical long-acting antipsychotic therapies (LATs) were prescribed 19% of the treatment episodes (n = 1,608/8,249. There was a small increase in prescribing of atypical LAT and typical LAT and a small decrease in atypical oral and clozapine prescribing over the study period. Treatment persistence was greatest in patients treated with clozapine, than in those treated with atypical LATs.ConclusionsWhile the majority of patients receive atypical antipsychotic medications, one in five continue to use older typical LAT therapies. Patient age and time on therapy may be associated with choice of therapy. Persistence to atypical LAT therapy is better than for other treatment modalities in this real-world cohort.

Antipsychotic treatment patterns in Alzheimer’s disease patients with agitation: a cohort study using the UK clinical practice research datalink

Objectives There is a lack of robust epidemiological evidence on antipsychotic (AP) use in patients with agitation in Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Authors studied AP use in patients with AD and agitation and compared their use with patients with other or no neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS). Methods A retrospective cohort study in the UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink, included patients with AD between January 1st, 2015, and December 31st, 2017. AP use was compared between patients with agitation, other types of NPS and no NPS. Results There were 24,464 patients with AD, median follow-up of 1.1 years (interquartile range [IQR] 0.5–2.1), and median age 83 years (78–88). A larger percentage of patients with agitation (n = 2432) were prescribed APs (38.2%) than other NPS (n = 13,076, 20.4%) and no NPS (n = 11,816, 12.2%). Compared to patients with no NPS, adjusted hazard ratios for AP use were 3.45 (95% CI 2.86–4.17) for patients with agitation and 1.31 (95% CI 1.19–1.44) for patients with other NPS. Among users of APs, the treatment discontinuation rate at six months was 44.8% in patients with agitation (other NPS 57.1%; no NPS 63.5%). Conclusions Patients with AD and agitation were frequently prescribed APs and for long periods in routine clinical practice in the UK. The high real-life usage of APs suggests that physicians prefer using APs for the treatment of agitation despite recommendations against their long-term use. These data support a need for AP therapies that better address known safety concerns with currently used APs to treat agitation in elderly patients with AD.

Differences in antipsychotic treatment between depressive patients with and without a suicide attempt

BackgroundDepressed suicide attempters are, according to some earlier studies, treated more often with antipsychotics than depressive non-suicide attempters. Cluster B personality disorders, especially borderline personality disorder, are associated with a high suicide risk, and antipsychotics are commonly used for the reduction of symptoms. However, no previous study has taken comorbid personality disorders into account when assessing the use of antipsychotics in patients with unipolar depression. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the clinical selection of pharmacotherapy in unipolar depression with and without a previous suicide attempt, taking into account potential confounders such as cluster B personality disorders. MethodsThe study sample consisted of 247 patients with unipolar depression. The study was approved by the Regional Ethical Review Board in Lund, Sweden. Study participants were recruited from 4 different secondary psychiatric care clinics in Sweden and were diagnosed according to the DSM-IV-TR with the MINI and SCID II. Previous and ongoing psychiatric treatments were investigated in detail and medical records were assessed. ResultsThirty percent of the patients had made previous suicide attempts. Depressed suicide attempters underwent both lifetime treatment with antipsychotics and an ongoing antipsychotic treatment significantly more often than non-attempters. Significances remained after a regression analysis, adjusting for cluster B personality disorders, symptom severity, age at the onset of depression, and lifetime psychotic symptoms. ConclusionsThis is the first study to consider the effect of comorbidity with cluster B personality disorders when comparing treatment of depressive suicide and non-suicide attempters.Our findings suggest that suicide attempters are more frequently treated with antipsychotics compared to non-suicide attempters, regardless of cluster B personality disorder comorbidity. These findings are important for clinicians to consider and would also be relevant to future studies evaluating reduction of suicide risk with antipsychotics in patients with psychiatric comorbidity and a history of attempted suicide.

Gender differences in the use of atypical antipsychotics in early-onset schizophrenia: a nationwide population-based study in Brazil

BackgroundThe use of atypical antipsychotics for the treatment of schizophrenia and other mental disorders in populations under 18 years of age is increasing worldwide. Little is known about treatment patterns and the influence of gender differences, which may be a predictor of clinical outcomes. The aim of this study was to investigate gender differences in the use of atypical antipsychotics in patients with early-onset schizophrenia (EOS) assisted by the public health system in Brazil.MethodsWe conducted a cross-sectional study of outpatients with EOS aged 10 to 17 years who received at least one provision of atypical antipsychotics (clozapine, olanzapine, risperidone, quetiapine or ziprasidone) from a large Brazilian pharmaceutical assistance programme. Data were retrieved from a nationwide administrative database from 2008 to 2017.ResultsOf the 49,943 patients with EOS, 63.5% were males, and the mean age was 13.6 years old. The patients were using risperidone (62.5%), olanzapine (19.6%), quetiapine (12.4%), ziprasidone (3.3%) and clozapine (2.2%). We found gender differences, especially in the 13–17 year age group (65.1% for males vs. 34.9% for females, p < 0.001), in the use of risperidone (72.1% for males vs. 27.9% for females, p < 0.001) and olanzapine (66.5% for males vs. 33.5% for females, p < 0.001). Only in the 13 to 17 years age group were the prescribed doses of olanzapine (p = 0.012) and quetiapine (p = 0.041) slightly higher for males than for females.ConclusionsOur findings showed gender differences among patients diagnosed with EOS and who received atypical antipsychotics. More attention should be devoted to gender differences in research and clinical practice.

Long-Acting Injectable Antipsychotic Use in Patients with Schizophrenia and Criminal Justice System Encounters.

Background: Nonadherence to medication is prevalent in persons diagnosed with schizophrenia, thus increasing the likelihood of relapse, poor health outcomes, hospitalization, high treatment costs, and high rates of both violent and non-violent offenses.Objective: To assess the association between long-acting injectable (LAI) antipsychotic use and criminal justice system encounters in patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder.Methods: This retrospective follow-up study was conducted among patients aged ≥18 years treated for schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder at a community mental health center in Akron, Ohio, between January 1, 2010, and June 15, 2016. The incidence of criminal justice system encounters at 6 months, 1 year, and 2 years pre- versus post-LAI antipsychotic initiation was assessed. A subanalysis was conducted for individuals with a history of prior arrest.Results: Overall, the risk ratio (RR) of having an encounter with the criminal justice system was significantly lower for patients treated with LAI antipsychotics 1 year after initiation of treatment compared with a similar time period prior to initiation (RR [95% confidence interval (CI)]: 0.74 [0.59–0.93]; P<0.01) and 2 years (0.74 [0.62–0.88]; P<0.0001). Statistically significant reductions in criminal justice system encounters after treatment than before treatment were observed in the once-monthly paliperidone palmitate (PP1M) cohort. The incidence of arrests was lower in the 6-month (27 vs 85 arrests), 1-year (46 vs 132 arrests) and 2-year (88 vs 196 arrests) periods post-index LAI medication than in the corresponding periods pre-index LAI medication among individuals with a history of prior arrest.Conclusions: Patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder who were initiated on a LAI antipsychotic medication, specifically PP1M, were less likely to have an encounter with the criminal justice system compared with a similar time period before the initiation of LAI treatment.

Safety and related factors of treatment with long-term atypical antipsychotic in Chinese patients with schizophrenia: observational study

BackgroundAtypical antipsychotics as first-line drugs have been used in patients with schizophrenia in China and abroad. However, its safety still needs to be evaluated in a large population, especially in...

Analysis of the status of drug treatment in 746 inpatients with early-onset schizophrenia in China: a retrospective study

BackgroundThere is limited evidence on the use of antipsychotics in patients with early-onset schizophrenia, which lags significantly behind the studies on adult patients’ medication and has a large disparity from actual clinical needs. Hence, this study aims to analyse the status of the drug use and its changes for patients with early-onset schizophrenia in our ward and to provide references on clinical medications for children and adolescents with schizophrenia.MethodsThe distribution of antipsychotics on the day of discharge and their changes over time were retrospectively analysed in our inpatient department from March 2012 to July 2019. Descriptive statistical methods and χ2 tests were carried out.ResultsA total of 746 inpatients with early-onset schizophrenia were included. Among them, 99.3% of patients were prescribed atypical antipsychotic drugs, with 5.5% of patients prescribed typical antipsychotic drugs. The top five most commonly used antipsychotics were aripiprazole, olanzapine, risperidone, paliperidone and clozapine. Olanzapine and risperidone were used more frequently in men (P < 0.01), whereas aripiprazole was used less frequently (P < 0.01). Olanzapine and paliperidone were used more frequently in patients with adolescent-onset schizophrenia (AOS) (P < 0.05), and risperidone was used more frequently in patients with child-onset schizophrenia (COS) (P < 0.01). Multiple antipsychotics during hospitalization were prescribed in 23.1% of patients. The combination of aripiprazole and olanzapine was the most common in the AOS group, and the combination of risperidone and clozapine was the most common in the COS group. Before and after approval by the competent Chinese authorities, the use of paliperidone and aripiprazole tended to be stable.ConclusionAtypical antipsychotics have been increasingly valued and used clinically. The consideration of medications for patients with early-onset schizophrenia needs to include factors such as age, sex, and severity of illness, metabolism and cognitive function at baseline.

Neuropsychiatric Symptoms and Antipsychotic Therapy in the Elderly Patients with Dementia

The objective of the study was to investigate syndromal-nosological specificities of neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) and the frequency of use of antipsychotics in patients with various types of dementias, institutionalized to geriatric units of mental hospitals.Patients and methods: a total of 106 in-patients of three psychogeriatric units were examined. The median age of patients is 75 years [69; 80].The diagnostic distribution of patients at the time of the examination was as follows: in 33 subjects (31.1%) Alzheimer’s disease (AD) was diagnosed, in 25 (23.6%) - mixed dementia (MD), in 32 (30.2%) - vascular dementia (VD) and in 16 (15.1%) patients had dementia of complex origin (DCO).Results: a high incidence (54.7%) of NPS was found in patients with dementia of various origins. The greatest number of patients with behavioral and psychotic symptoms was found in AD and MD. The proportion of dementia patients with such disorders in each of these types of dementia is about 70%, while in CGD and VD, the proportion of patients with NPS is noticeably smaller (30% and 40%, respectively). For the treatment of NPS, antipsychotics were most often prescribed, but their use caused adverse events (AEs) in 1/3 of cases. Patients with VD are most susceptible to the development of AE, and AD patients are the least susceptible.Conclusion: the study showed that NPS are one of the important components of dementia, regardless of the nosology and stage of the disease. The treatment of NPS in dementia is particularly challenging because, although the symptoms cause significant distress, there are currently no effective alternative therapies. The risk of AE can be minimized by carefully considering the indications for prescribing antipsychotics and their short-term use, regular monitoring of the patient’s condition, and educating caregivers.

Use of Antipsychotics in Patients with Behavioral and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia: Results of a Spanish Delphi Consensus

Background: Behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) are difficult to manage and associated with poor outcome. Objectives: The aim of this study was to reach consensus on the use of antipsychotics in patients with BPSD in Spain. Methods: A qualitative, multicenter, two-round Delphi study was carried out, with the participation of specialists involved in the care of dementia patients throughout Spain. They completed a 76-item questionnaire related to the identification of BPSD, treatment with antipsychotics, follow-up of patients, barriers for the use of atypical antipsychotics, and effects of antipsychotics on quality of life. Results: A total of 162 specialists in neurology, psychiatry, and geriatrics (61% men) with a mean (SD) age of 45.9 (10) years participated in the study. Almost all participants (96.9%) strongly agreed that atypical antipsychotics are safer and better tolerated than typical antipsychotics. There was agreement on the importance to review the indication and dose of the antipsychotic drug at least every 3 months. There was consistent high rate of agreement on the beneficial impact of atypical antipsychotics on the quality of life of patients with dementia and their caregivers. A consensus was also reached on the need of detecting BPSD in patients with dementia as it decreases the quality of life of both patients and caregivers, and the need to routinely screen for dementia in elderly patients with no previous psychiatric history in the presence of suggestive symptoms of BPSD. Finally, the participants in the study agreed that administrative barriers for the prescription of atypical antipsychotics in Spain hinder the access to this drug group and favor the prescription of typical antipsychotics. Conclusions: The participants in the study agreed that atypical antipsychotics should be preferred to typical antipsychotics in the management of BPSD. Wide consensus was reached about the importance of early identification of BPSD in persons with cognitive impairment, the use and management of atypical antipsychotic drugs and their favorable impact on patients and caregiver’s quality of life.

Positive impact of clinical pharmacist interventions on antipsychotic use in patients on excessive polypharmacy evidenced in a retrospective cohort study

Objectives Although antipsychotic prescribing in elderly patients using polypharmacy has not been studied in well-designed clinical trials and meta-analyses, there is an urgent need to monitor prescribing practice in this population. One of the possible approaches to optimize pharmacotherapy may be the involvement of clinical pharmacists (CPs). The aim of this research was to examine whether the involvement of a CP can improve treatment guidelines adherence and change the total number of medications per patient in older patients who are treated with excessive polypharmacy that includes antipsychotics. Methods This cohort retrospective study included older patients (65 years or older) treated with at least one antipsychotic and excessive polypharmacy (10 or more medications concurrently) between 2012 and 2014 in primary care. The main outcome measures were antipsychotic treatment guidelines’ adherence and the total number of medications per patient after the CP’s interventions. Only interventions including antipsychotics were studied in detail (i.e., discontinuation, switching, initiation, dose adjustment, change of another medication because of a drug-related problem). Data on diagnoses, patient pharmacotherapy and the CP’s interventions were obtained from clinical records and medical reviews. Age and acceptance of the CP’s interventions were used as predictive factors for antipsychotic treatment guidelines’ adherence. Results Forty-nine patients were included. The CP suggested 21 different interventions of which nine (42.8%) were accepted by the general practitioners. The number of medications that patients received decreased after the CP’s interventions (N of medications before: 15.4; N of medications after: 12.0, p < 0.05). The acceptance of the CP’s recommendations, but not age, improved antipsychotic treatment guidelines’ adherence (p = 0.041). Conclusions These results show that a collaborative care approach including a CP in primary care significantly improved the adherence to treatment guidelines. The results also support the implementation of this service in the Slovenian healthcare system, although more studies are needed.

Use of Antipsychotics in Dementia Patients: A Descriptive Study

ABSTRACT&#x0D; Introduction. Dementia is a chronic progressive syndrome in which there is a decrease in the function of cognitive abilities including memory impairment, thinking ability, orientation, understanding, calculation, language, and assessment but without impaired consciousness. Apart from cognitive impairment, dementia is often accompanied by psychological symptoms and behavioural symptoms so that antipsychotic therapy is needed to overcome this. This study aims to identify the description of the use of antipsychotics in patients with dementia at Dr Mohammad Hoesin Palembang in the period 1 January 2014-31 December 2018.&#x0D; Methods. This research was a descriptive study using secondary data in the form of medical records of dementia patients receiving antipsychotic therapy at Dr Mohammad Hoesin General Hospital, Palembang. Samples were taken using a total sampling method.&#x0D; Results. There were 29 dementia patients (38.67%) receiving antipsychotic therapy. Most of the dementia patients who received antipsychotic therapy were in the late elderly age (27.59%) and were female (55.17%). The most commonly administered antipsychotic drug is haloperidol from the dopamine receptor antagonist (60%) with the most frequent dose of 0.5 mg (34.48%). Risperidone from the serotonin-dopamine antagonist class is the second most frequently prescribed antipsychotic drug (34.28%) at a dose of 1 mg (17.28%). The mean of haloperidol was 425 days, and risperidone was 295.5 days.&#x0D; Conclusion. Although in theory, psychological and behavioural symptoms are often found in dementia cases, not all dementia patients in RSUP Dr Mohammad Hoesin Palembang received antipsychotic therapy. People living with dementia who receive antipsychotic treatment get various types of drugs, dosages, and frequencies.

Post-diagnostic antipsychotic use and cancer mortality: a population based cohort study

BackgroundMany antipsychotics elevate prolactin, a hormone implicated in breast cancer aetiology however no studies have investigated antipsychotic use in patients with breast cancer. This study investigated if antipsychotic use is associated with an increased risk of cancer-specific mortality among breast cancer patients.MethodsA cohort of 23,695 women newly diagnosed with a primary breast cancer between 1st January 1998 and 31st December 2012 was identified from the UK Clinical Practice Research Datalink linked to English cancer-registries and followed for until 30th September 2015. Time-dependent Cox proportional hazards models were used to calculate adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of breast cancer-specific mortality comparing use of antipsychotics with non-use, overall, and by prolactin elevating activitiy. Analyses were repeated restricting to patients with a history of severe mental illness to control for potential confounding by indication.ResultsIn total 848 patients were prescribed an antipsychotic and of which 162 died due to their breast cancer. Compared with non-use, antipsychotic use was associated with an increased risk of breast-cancer specific mortality (HR 2.25, 95%CI 1.90–2.67), but this did not follow a dose response relation. Restricting the cohort to patients with severe mental illness attenuated the association between antipsychotic use and breast cancer-specific mortality (HR 1.11, 95%CI 0.58–2.14).ConclusionsIn this population-based cohort of breast cancer patients, while the use of antipsychotics was associated with increased breast cancer-specific mortality, there was a lack of a dose response, and importantly null associations were observed in patients with severe mental illness, suggesting the observed association is likely a result of confounding by indication. This study provides an exemplar of confounding by indication, highlighting the importance of consideration of this important bias in studies of drug effects in cancer patients.