Centre for Policy on Ageing



Use of hypnotics among patients in geriatric institutions
Author(s)	K Opedal, J Schjott, E Eide
Journal title	International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, vol 13, no 12, December 1998
Pages	pp 846-851
Keywords	Drugs ; Care homes ; Nursing homes ; Norway.
Annotation	A survey of hypnotic use in geriatric institutions outside hospitals was performed in the county of Hordaland, Norway. Data were obtained from the cardex system in 67 institutions, and represented administration of hypnotics to patients on three separate days within a week. About 24% of 2,802 patients in the institutions used hypnotics. The number of those treated with hypnotics, the doses administered, and the time of administration were similar for weekends and workdays. About 98% of the hypnotics were used as scheduled. Long-acting benzodiazepines constituted about 62% of the hypnotics. A significantly higher proportion of patients in old age homes used hypnotics compared to patients in nursing homes (30.7% versus 22.8%, respectively). Furthermore, higher doses, administration later in the evening and use of additional hypnotics were more common in old age homes compared to nursing homes. The results indicate a need for frequent re-evaluation of hypnotics in geriatric institutions. (RH).
Accession Number	CPA-990209010 A
Classmark	LLD: KW: LHB: 76N
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...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing.