The (ab)use of antipsychotics in people with dementia according to the living conditions

Abstract

The use of antipsychotics in dementia has been a concern. This study aimed to report the prevalence of antipsychotics in people with dementia and explore their use according to the living conditions (residential homes vs. community). Two groups of people with dementia were studied. Group 1 (n=38) was a convenience sample from the community and group 2 (n=38) was a randomised sample from residential homes. Socio-demographics, living condition and use of antipsychotics data were collected. Cognition and severity of dementia were assessed with the Mini-Mental State Examination. Of the total sample, 55.3% were prescribed with antipsychotics (1.2 ± 0.4). The groups were similar at baseline for marital status, education, cognition and severity of dementia. However, institutionalised participants (71.1%) were higher prescribed with antipsychotics than participants from the community (28.9%). The institutionalisation seems to influence the use of antipsychotics in people with dementia.