Psychotropic drug use among institutionalized and noninstitutionalized Medicaid aged in California.

Previous research has shown that prescription drug use is higher for the aged than for the general population. The present study uses the California Medicaid data base to compare the amount and pattern of prescription drug use among the aged to that of the general population and then compares, within the aged population, drug use by the institutionalized and noninstitutionalized. It was found that prescription drug use was higher for the aged as compared to the general population; among the aged, however, prescription drug expenditures were almost three times as high for the institutionalized as compared to the noninstitutionalized. The bulk of the difference in prescription drug expenditure among the aged subgroup was found to be due to a much higher level of psychotropic drug use among the institutionalized. Data from a sample of aged in a day health program raises questions about the appropriateness of this level of psychotropic drug use.