TY - JOUR
T1 - The Negative Impact of Psychotropic Drug Use on Quality of Life in Nursing Home Patients at Different Stages of Dementia
T2 - Cross-Sectional Analyses from the COSMOS Trial
AU - Ito, Erika
AU - Berge, Line Iden
AU - Husebo, Bettina S.
AU - Nouchi, Rui
AU - Sandvik, Reidun K.N.M.
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank the patients, their relatives, and the nursing home staff for their willingness and motivation that made this work possible. B.S.H. would like to thank the G.C. Rieber Foundation and the Norwegian government for supporting the work at the Centre for Elderly and Nursing Home Medicine, University of Bergen, Norway.
Funding Information:
The COSMOS trial was supported by the Research Council of Norway (sponsors protocol code 222113/H10) and the University of Bergen . The Rebekka Ege Hegerman's foundation funded the study.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 AMDA – The Society for Post-Acute and Long-Term Care Medicine
PY - 2020/11
Y1 - 2020/11
N2 - Objectives: The quality of life (QoL) in nursing home (NH) patients with dementia is threatened by neuropsychiatric symptoms. This may trigger the use of psychotropic drugs, yet it is unknown if this practice improves the QoL. We investigated the association between the number of psychotropic drugs and QoL at different stages of dementia, adjusted for neuropsychiatric symptoms. Design: Cross-sectional analysis of baseline data from the COSMOS study, a multicenter, cluster-randomized, single-blinded, controlled trial. Setting and Participation: Four hundred thirty-one patients (aged ≥65 years) with and without dementia from 33 Norwegian NHs comprising 67 wards. Measures: QoL assessed by Quality of Life in Late Stage Dementia (QUALID) and Quality of Life in Dementia (QUALIDEM), neuropsychiatric symptoms by Neuropsychiatric Inventory–Nursing Home version, and cognition by Mini-Mental State Examination. Results: At least 1 psychotropic drug was prescribed to 71% of the 431 participants included in the final sample. We estimated the trend in mean QoL scores over the number of psychotropic drugs in patients with clinical significant neuropsychiatric symptom load. QoL assessed by QUALID and QUALIDEM decreased by increasing number of psychotropic drugs (P < .001). No psychotropic drugs (mean QUALID score 20 ± 0.5, mean QUALIDEM score 40 ± 8.1) compared to ≥3 psychotropic drug (mean QUALID score 25 ± 7.8, mean QUALIDEM score 33 ± 8.0). This association was evident in mild, moderate, and severe dementia but absent in people without dementia. Use of antidepressant agents in mild and moderate dementia was associated with increased QoL compared with no use of antidepressant agents. Conclusions and Implications: Overall, our findings suggest that psychotropic drugs might pose a threat to QoL in NH patients at all stages of dementia, possibly with the exception of use of antidepressant agents in mild to moderate dementia. This underlines the need for updated knowledge on psychopharmacologic treatment and implementation of procedures for maintaining QoL in dementia care facilities.
AB - Objectives: The quality of life (QoL) in nursing home (NH) patients with dementia is threatened by neuropsychiatric symptoms. This may trigger the use of psychotropic drugs, yet it is unknown if this practice improves the QoL. We investigated the association between the number of psychotropic drugs and QoL at different stages of dementia, adjusted for neuropsychiatric symptoms. Design: Cross-sectional analysis of baseline data from the COSMOS study, a multicenter, cluster-randomized, single-blinded, controlled trial. Setting and Participation: Four hundred thirty-one patients (aged ≥65 years) with and without dementia from 33 Norwegian NHs comprising 67 wards. Measures: QoL assessed by Quality of Life in Late Stage Dementia (QUALID) and Quality of Life in Dementia (QUALIDEM), neuropsychiatric symptoms by Neuropsychiatric Inventory–Nursing Home version, and cognition by Mini-Mental State Examination. Results: At least 1 psychotropic drug was prescribed to 71% of the 431 participants included in the final sample. We estimated the trend in mean QoL scores over the number of psychotropic drugs in patients with clinical significant neuropsychiatric symptom load. QoL assessed by QUALID and QUALIDEM decreased by increasing number of psychotropic drugs (P < .001). No psychotropic drugs (mean QUALID score 20 ± 0.5, mean QUALIDEM score 40 ± 8.1) compared to ≥3 psychotropic drug (mean QUALID score 25 ± 7.8, mean QUALIDEM score 33 ± 8.0). This association was evident in mild, moderate, and severe dementia but absent in people without dementia. Use of antidepressant agents in mild and moderate dementia was associated with increased QoL compared with no use of antidepressant agents. Conclusions and Implications: Overall, our findings suggest that psychotropic drugs might pose a threat to QoL in NH patients at all stages of dementia, possibly with the exception of use of antidepressant agents in mild to moderate dementia. This underlines the need for updated knowledge on psychopharmacologic treatment and implementation of procedures for maintaining QoL in dementia care facilities.
KW - dementia
KW - Nursing home
KW - psychotropic drugs
KW - quality of life
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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85085171503&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.jamda.2020.03.028
DO - 10.1016/j.jamda.2020.03.028
M3 - Article
C2 - 32461038
AN - SCOPUS:85085171503
SN - 1525-8610
VL - 21
SP - 1623
EP - 1628
JO - Journal of the American Medical Directors Association
JF - Journal of the American Medical Directors Association
IS - 11
ER -
