Characteristics of elderly people taking psychotropic medication.

A sample of 253 elderly people who had been taking psychotropic medication for at least 3 months were interviewed to establish their levels of morbidity and their subjective health status. The findings were compared with those of a control sample of 484 elderly people in the same area. Those taking psychotropic medication were older and more were female and widowed than were the control sample. Their subjective assessments of health status were worse as were the more objective measures of mental and physical morbidity; in addition they were taking more medication of other types. There were more falls among those taking psychotropic medication than those who were not; most excess falls took place indoors. It is possible that a proportion of this morbidity is a result of or exacerbated by medication, but care needs to be taken in interpreting a cross-sectional study. Older people, we suggest, may benefit from regular review of the need for psychotropic medication. Larger studies need to be initiated to investigate the association between morbidity and psychotropic medication.