TY - JOUR
T1 - Patterns of antipsychotics' prescription in Portuguese acute psychiatric wards
T2 - A cross-sectional study
AU - Campos Mendes, João
AU - Azeredo-Lopes, Sofia
AU - Cardoso, Graça
PY - 2016/12/30
Y1 - 2016/12/30
N2 - This study aimed to establish the prescribing patterns of antipsychotics in acute psychiatric wards across Portugal, to determine the prevalence of polypharmacy and “high-doses” treatment, and to identify possible predictors. Twelve acute psychiatric inpatient units and 272 patients were included. The majority (87.5%) was treated with antipsychotics regardless of diagnosis, and 41.6% had at least two antipsychotics prescribed in combination. Age, use of depot antipsychotics, and antipsychotic “high-doses” were significant predictors of antipsychotic polypharmacy. Excluding ‘as required’ prescriptions, 13.8% of the patients were prescribed “high-doses” of antipsychotics. When antipsychotics ‘as required’ prescriptions were considered, 49.2% of the patients were on antipsychotic “high-doses”. Age, use of depot antipsychotics, previous psychiatric hospitalization and involuntary admission were significant predictors of antipsychotic “high-doses”. These results show that in Portugal the antipsychotics prescribing practices in psychiatric inpatient units diverge from those that are universally recommended, entailing important clinical and economic implications. It seems advisable to optimize the prescription of these drugs, in order to prevent adverse effects and improve the quality of the services provided.
AB - This study aimed to establish the prescribing patterns of antipsychotics in acute psychiatric wards across Portugal, to determine the prevalence of polypharmacy and “high-doses” treatment, and to identify possible predictors. Twelve acute psychiatric inpatient units and 272 patients were included. The majority (87.5%) was treated with antipsychotics regardless of diagnosis, and 41.6% had at least two antipsychotics prescribed in combination. Age, use of depot antipsychotics, and antipsychotic “high-doses” were significant predictors of antipsychotic polypharmacy. Excluding ‘as required’ prescriptions, 13.8% of the patients were prescribed “high-doses” of antipsychotics. When antipsychotics ‘as required’ prescriptions were considered, 49.2% of the patients were on antipsychotic “high-doses”. Age, use of depot antipsychotics, previous psychiatric hospitalization and involuntary admission were significant predictors of antipsychotic “high-doses”. These results show that in Portugal the antipsychotics prescribing practices in psychiatric inpatient units diverge from those that are universally recommended, entailing important clinical and economic implications. It seems advisable to optimize the prescription of these drugs, in order to prevent adverse effects and improve the quality of the services provided.
KW - Antipsychotics
KW - High-doses
KW - Polypharmacy
KW - Psychiatric inpatient units
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84989287576&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.psychres.2016.09.035
DO - 10.1016/j.psychres.2016.09.035
M3 - Article
C2 - 27693867
AN - SCOPUS:84989287576
SN - 0165-1781
VL - 246
SP - 142
EP - 148
JO - Psychiatry Research
JF - Psychiatry Research
ER -