• J Geriatr Psych Neur · Mar 2007

    Clinical diagnosis of dementia, not presence of behavioral and psychological symptoms, is associated with psychotropic use in community-dwelling elders classified as having dementia.

    • Ding-Cheng Chan, Judith D Kasper, Betty S Black, and Peter V Rabins.
    • Department of Health Policy and Management, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA. doctord6226@yahoo.com
    • J Geriatr Psych Neur. 2007 Mar 1; 20 (1): 50-7.

    AbstractLittle is known about the prevalence and correlates of psychotropic use in community-dwelling elders with dementia. Baseline data from 285 community-dwelling elders with a research classification of dementia (based on a neuropsychological battery of 4 tests) and their knowledgeable informants enrolled in the observational Memory and Medical Care Study were analyzed. A total of 33.3% of subjects with a research classification of dementia were clinically diagnosed, 28.8% used at least 1 psychotropic drug, and 61.8% had at least 1 behavioral or psychological symptom of dementia (BPSD). Presence of BPSD was associated with a higher likelihood of a clinical diagnosis of dementia. Multivariate logistic regression showed a clinical diagnosis of dementia, not BPSD, was associated with psychotropic use; clinical recognition of dementia appears to be an intermediate step between presence of BPSD and prescription of psychotropics. In addition, most community-dwelling elders meeting the research criteria for dementia were not clinically diagnosed, despite contact with a physician (89%) in the previous year.

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