BACKGROUND Development of pharmacological treatment in mental disorders has risen drastically over the past decade in Taiwan. We performed a survey of the National Health Insurance claims for outpatient psychiatric services to study the utilization of psychotropic drugs. The analysis followed the drug classification and standardized measurements proposed by the World Health Organization. METH...

objectives: psychotropic drug use in the elderly with chronic schizophrenia is an important issue in the field of psychiatry. the main goal of this study was to clarify the pattern of such drug use in these patients, in order to consider such therapy plan and focus on its cost attributing measures, for a more reasonable quality of care program. methods: in this descriptive study, participants i...

BACKGROUND The use of psychotropic drugs has increased over recent years in France. GPs are the first prescribers, especially for older patients. AIM To analyse discrepancies between GPs' opinions and practice when prescribing psychotropic drugs to older patients. SETTING Postal surveys sent to GPs all over mainland France. DESIGN OF STUDY Cross-sectional postal study. METHOD A question...

BACKGROUND Despite increasing knowledge about the limited effectiveness and severe adverse effects, the prescription rate of psychotropic medications in frail elderly persons remains high. Prescriptions are mainly made to control behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia, although factors associated with prescriptions are rarely reported. However, such information is a prerequisite to d...

OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to compare multiple psychotropic use among youths enrolled in two U.S. mid-Atlantic state Medicaid and state Children's Health Insurance Programs (SCHIP). METHODS Administrative data were used to examine multiple psychotropic use among youths less than 20 years of age and who were continuously enrolled in Medicaid or SCHIP programs in two states during 1999...

OBJECTIVE The objectives of this study were to examine rates and predictors of psychotropic use and multiclass polypharmacy among commercially insured children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). METHODS This retrospective observational study used administrative medical and pharmacy claims data linked with health plan enrollment and sociodemographic information from 2001 to 2009. Children w...

Medication use was examined in 286 adolescents and adults with ASD over a 4.5 year period. A total of 70% were taking a psychotropic or non-psychotropic medication at the beginning of the study. Both the number of psychotropic and non-psychotropic medications taken, and the proportion of individuals taking these medications, increased significantly over the study period, with 81% taking at leas...

Background and Objectives: To reveal insight into prevalence and incidence of psychotropic drug use in patients with various chronic somatic diseases and into time differences between incidence of the somatic disease and start of psychotropic drug use. Methods: A cohort study was performed using the Agis Health Database from 2002 to 2005. Patients with one or more of nine frequently occurring c...