Psychotropic drug

About: Psychotropic drug is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 2309 publications have been published within this topic receiving 54070 citations.

Postpartum psychiatric disorders

Abstract: Postpartum blues, postpartum neurotic depression and puerperal psychoses have distinct clinical features; they affect women in all social classes and in all cultures, and despite numerous studies they have not been linked definitively with any biologic or psychosocial variables. The only possible exception is puerperal psychosis, which emerges much more often in women with a personal or family history of a bipolar affective disorder than in women without, a finding that probably explains the reluctance of some researchers to recognize puerperal psychotic episodes as distinct from psychotic episodes at other times. If postpartum blues last longer than 2 weeks and are disabling they are classified as neurotic depression and warrant treatment, often requiring both psychosocial approaches and psychotropic drug therapy. Antidepressants, major tranquillizers, electroconvulsive therapy and lithium have proved effective in the treatment of postpartum psychoses, depending on the symptoms. Both lithium and diazepam have been reported to cause deleterious side effects on breast-fed infants, and as the side effects of other psychotropic drugs given to a nursing mother are imperfectly understood, bottle feeding seems prudent.

Insomnia and psychotropic drug consumption.

Abstract: 1. 1. During an epidemiological study conducted by telephone on sleep disorders in the metropolitan area of Montreal (Quebec, Canada), the authors found that 5% of subjects used psychotropic drugs. These drugs were usually prescribed by a general practitioner (72.9%). 2. 2. From this population, the authors drew three groups of subjects: users with sleeping difficulties (USD); non users with sleeping difficulties (NUSD) and, non users without sleeping difficulties (NUWSD). 3. 3. Results showed that the utilization of psychotropics was usually chronic and more frequent among the elderly and women. 4. 4. In multivariate models, when users were compared to NUWSD, the authors found eight variables significantly associated with psychotropic consumption: age ( ≥ 55), sex (female), presence of physical illness, medical consultation, dissatisfaction with sleep onset period and sleep quantity, sleep onset period greater than 15 minutes, and to never or rarely dream. 5. 5. When users were compared to NUSD, three variables were found to be associated with psychotropic consumption: age, to be formerly married, and to experience regular nighttime awakenings. 6. 6. It appears that the utilization of psychotropic drugs does not increase the quality of sleep when consumers are compared to non treated insomniacs (NUSD) on parameters of sleep satisfaction.

Trends in Psychotropic Medication Costs for Children and Adolescents, 1997-2000

Abstract: Objective To examine trends in psychotropic medication utilization and costs for children and adolescents between January 1, 1997, and December 31, 2000. Methods Pharmacy claims were analyzed for mental health users 17 years and younger (N = 83 039) from a national database covering 1.74 million privately insured youths. Utilization rates and costs for dispensed medications were compared across psychotropic drug categories and individual agents over time. Results Overall use of psychotropic drugs increased from 59.5% of mental health outpatients in 1997 (a 1-year prevalence of 28.7 per 1000) to 62.3% in 2000 (33.7 per 1000), a 4.7% increase. The largest changes in utilization were seen for atypical antipsychotics (138.4%), atypical antidepressants (42.8%), and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (18.8%). The average prescription price increased by 17.6% ($7.90 per prescription), a change in turn attributed to a shift toward costlier medications within the same category (55.1% of the increase, or $4.35) and to pure inflation (44.9% of the increase, or $3.55; P for trend Conclusions Psychotropic drug expenditure increases during the late 1990s resulted from more youths being prescribed drugs, a preference for newer and costlier medications, and the net effects of inflation. The impact of managed care and pharmaceutical marketing effects on these trends warrants further study.

Early exposure to antibiotic drugs and risk for psychiatric disorders: a population-based study.

Abstract: Early life exposure to infection, anti-infectives and altered immune activity have been associated with elevated risk of some psychiatric disorders. However, the risk from exposure in fetal life has been proposed to be confounded by familial factors. The hypothesis of this study is that antibiotic drug exposure during the fetal period and the first two postnatal years is associated with risk for later development of psychiatric disorders in children. All births in Finland between 1996 and 2012, 1 million births, were studied for antibiotic drug exposure: mothers during pregnancy and the children the first two postnatal years. The children were followed up for a wide spectrum of psychiatric diagnoses and psychotropic drug treatment until 2014. Cox proportional hazards modeling was used to estimate effects of antibiotic drug exposure on offspring psychiatric disorders. Modestly (10–50%) increased risks were found on later childhood development of sleep disorders, ADHD, conduct disorder, mood and anxiety disorders, and other behavioral and emotional disorders with childhood onset (ICD-10 F98), supported by increased risks also for childhood psychotropic medication. The prenatal exposure effects detected were not explained by explored familial confounding, nor by registered maternal infections. To conclude, this longitudinal nation-wide study shows that early life antibiotic drug exposure is associated with an increased risk for childhood development of psychopathology. Given the high occurrence of early-life antibiotic exposure, these findings are of public health relevance. Whether the associations reflect effects of the antibiotic drug use or of the targeted infections remains to be explored further.

Current use of psychotropic medication in nursing homes

Abstract: Objective To examine the current pattern of use of psychotropic medication in Sydney nursing homes and compare this with the pattern noted 5 and 10 years earlier. Method Data were recorded from medication cards concerning psychotropic medications prescribed for the 3093 residents in the 51 nursing homes in the Central Sydney Health Area. Documented diagnoses and demographic details were noted from their clinical files. Results In late 2003, 47.2% of residents were taking one or more psychotropic drug regularly and another 3.5% had been given "as required" (prn) doses at least once in the preceding 4 weeks. Fewer residents were taking hypnotics (11.3%) and anxiolytics (4.1%) regularly, when compared to 1998, but more were taking antidepressants (20.5%). Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors were prescribed to 11.4%, venlafaxine to 2.6%, mirtazapine 1.6% and tricyclics to 3.6%. Although the proportion taking antipsychotics had not fallen since 1998, there were over twice as many residents (16.4%) taking atypical neuroleptic medication in 2003 as there were taking conventional neuroleptics (8.1%). Most of them did not have schizophrenia. Conclusions There have been further reductions in the use of hypnotics and anxiolytics in Sydney nursing homes, with increased prescription of antidepressants and a striking change towards use of atypical rather than conventional neuroleptic medication.