Abstract
Objectives
To assess the prevalence and characteristics of psychotropic medication-related hospitalizations
in older people.
Design
Systematic review with meta-analysis.
Setting and Participants
Older adults (≥65 years of age) with psychotropic-related hospitalizations.
Methods
A search of published literature was performed in Medline, Embase, CINAHL, and Scopus
from 2010 to March 2020. Three authors independently screened titles, abstracts, and
full texts of relevant studies for relevance. Two authors independently extracted
full text data, including characteristics, measures of causality, prevalence data,
and performed quality assessment. A meta-analysis was conducted to estimate pooled
prevalence and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of psychotropic-related hospitalizations
using random effects models. Heterogeneity was explored using subgroup analyses.
Results
Of 815 potentially relevant studies, 11 were included in the final analysis. Five
studies were cross-sectional studies, 5 were cohort studies, and 1 was a case control
study. The majority of studies were rated as good quality. Psychotropic medications
contributed to 2.1% (95% CI 1.2%–3.3%) of total hospitalizations and 11.3% (95% CI
8.2%–14.8%) of adverse drug event-related hospitalizations. The main psychotropic
medications attributable to hospitalizations were antidepressants, hypnotics, sedatives,
and antipsychotics.
Conclusions and Implications
Psychotropic medications are a significant contributor to hospitalizations in older
adults. The risk of hospitalization was greatest for those taking antidepressants,
antipsychotics, hypnotics, and sedatives. Future studies should aim to address specific
medication subgroups and implement uniform adverse drug event-related classification
systems to improve comparability across studies.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: February 01, 2021
Footnotes
ECKT was supported by a NHMRC-ARC Dementia Research Development Fellowship (APP1107381).
Identification
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