Abstract
Objectives
To determine factors associated with the antipsychotic (AP) prescription for people
with dementia (PwD) recently admitted to institutional long-term care facilities (LTCFs)
and to ascertain differences in the use of this medication in 8 European countries.
Design
An exploratory cross-sectional study.
Setting
LTCFs from 8 European countries (Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, The Netherlands,
Spain, Sweden, and England).
Participants
A total of 791 PwD recently admitted to an LTCF and their caregivers.
Measurements
Baseline data from RightTimePlaceCare survey was used. Patients’ medical conditions,
neuropsychiatric symptoms, physical and cognitive status, and medications were recorded.
Multiple logistic regression models were used to assess associations with the AP use.
Results
A group of 296 patients (37.4%) of 791 patients recently admitted received AP medication.
The prevalence of the use of 1 or more APs varied between study countries, ranging
from 12% in Sweden to 54% in Spain. Factors independently associated with the AP use
were living in Sweden [odds ratio (OR) 0.12, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.05–0.30],
Finland (OR 0.26, 95% CI 0.14–0.48), Germany (OR 2.75, 95% CI 1.55–4.86) and Estonia
(OR 6.79, 95% CI 3.84–12.0). The odds of AP use decreased with the presence of a dementia
specific unit in the LTCF (OR 0.60, 95% CI 0.39–0.92), but was higher among residents
with a hyperactivity behavior (OR 2.12, 95% CI 1.41–3.18).
Conclusion
The current study shows that more than one-third of the residents recently admitted
received APs and that prescription frequency across countries varied significantly.
This study raises the possibility that the presence of a dementia-specific unit might
play a role in the AP use. Further studies should investigate this association and
seek better understanding of what will achieve optimal quality of AP use among newly
admitted residents in LTCF.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: August 13, 2014
Footnotes
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
The RightTimePlaceCare study is supported by a grant from the European Commission within the 7th framework programme (project 242153).
The RightTimePlaceCare Consortium partners and their affiliations are listed in the Appendix.
Identification
Copyright
© 2014 AMDA – The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
