DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2013.v01i06.0097

Pages: 1112-1115

Introduction: With the availability of better health care services and decrease in mortality rates the elderly population has increased significantly over the last couple of decades.1 Psychiatric illness in the elderly is compounded by mental morbidities due to ageing of the brain, problems associated with physical health, socio-economic factors such as breakdown of the family support systems, and decrease in economic independence. The presence of comorbidities and the attendant polypharmacy makes management of these diseases a complex issue. Methods: The case record files of all psychiatry inpatients admitted to Tertiary care teaching Hospital over a period of 1 year were retrieved from the medical records department based on the ICD-10 disease coding (World health organization, ICD-10, F00-F99). The demographic details were recorded. Total admissions, first admissions, and readmissions were identified, and the medication status (on or off medications) of all patients at admission and at discharge was ascertained. Patients ≥ 60 years of age were considered as elderly. Results: A total of 150 patients were admitted during the 6 months period. 24.7% of the patients were more than 60 years of age. 33% were female patients. The percentage of females in the younger adults group was 24.6% while in the elderly patients group it was 56.5% and the difference was statistically significant (p<0.001). The mean duration of hospital stay was 8.5 ± 7.8 days. The difference between the two groups was not significant. Conclusion: The most commonly prescribed drug combination in our study was antipsychotic with anxiolytic. However, unlike the trends reported in other studies use of drug combination was significantly more common in younger patients in our study. However, this data has to be interpreted with caution due to the small sample size. With regard to gender, no significant difference was seen with the psychotropic drug utilizationomes.