EVALUATION OF INAPPROPRIATE PSYCHOTROPIC USE IN ELDERLY

老年人群中不适当的药物使用是一个重大的公共卫生问题，因为它们有许多潜在的有害后果。调查人员最近的研究表明，在门诊环境中，每20张老年人处方中就有一张涉及不适当的药物，其中不适当的精神药物构成了主要部分。这项研究将利用医疗支出小组调查(MEPS)，根据临床文献中定义的标准，评估美国社区老年人不适当使用精神药物的情况。这项研究的具体目标是：(1)描述美国社区老年人使用精神药物的特征，(2)描述这一人群不适当使用精神药物的性质和程度，(3)检查与不适当使用精神药物有关的因素，以及(4)评估不适当使用精神药物对卫生保健利用和费用的影响。这项研究涉及对1996年欧洲议会议员会议上使用精神药物的65岁或65岁以上人群的医疗和利用数据进行分析。描述性统计将被用来检查不适当的精神药物使用，多变量分析将被用来评估不适当的精神药物使用的相关因素和影响。这项调查将向卫生保健提供者和政策制定者提供有价值的信息，以便了解问题的程度、处境危险的老年人以及不适当地使用精神药物对卫生保健系统造成的影响。此外，这项研究将有助于优化向老年人提供的药学服务。

Inappropriate medication use in the elderly population is a significant public health concern in light of their many potentially deleterious outcomes. Recent studies by the investigators indicated that one in twenty prescriptions for the elderly in ambulatory settings involved inappropriate medications, of which inappropriate psychotropic agents constituted a major portion. Using the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS), this research will evaluate inappropriate psychotropic use by the community elderly in the United States based on the criteria defined in the clinical literature. Specific objectives of this research are: (1) to characterize community elderly using psychotropic medications in the United States, (2) to describe the nature and extent of inappropriate psychotropic use m this population, (3) to examine the factors associated with inappropriate psychotropic medication use, and (4) to assess the impact of inappropriate psychotropic use on health care utilization and costs. This study involves analyses of medical and utilization data of the cohort of persons 65 years of age or older using psychotropic medications from the 1996 MEPS. Descriptive statistics will be employed to examine inappropriate psychotropic use, and multivariate analyses will be applied to evaluate the associated factors and impact of inappropriate psychotropic use. This investigation will provide valuable information to health care providers and policy makers so as to the extent of the problem, elderly-at risk, and the resultant impact of inappropriate psychotropic use on the health care system. In addition, this research will be instrumental in optimizing pharmaceutical care provided to the elderly.