[Drug utilization by elderly patients in Bremen old age and nursing homes with special reference to psychotropic drugs].

In five homes for the aged in the city of Bremen that were also nursing homes, we studied the drug supply and drug intake of 301 inmates with particular reference to psychotropics, basing on the available records. The average regular drug intake covered 3.99 drugs. Furthermore, prescriptions for an average of 1.16 additionally required drugs were issued. More than one-quarter of the inmates (27.2%) took between 6 to 11 different drugs permanently. More than one half of the inmates (50.8%) were given prescriptions for psychotropics; 45.2% took at least one psychotropic permanently. Prescription of benzodiazepines of medium or long half-time was strikingly frequent; these are in fact drugs that are usually unsuitable for administration to elderly persons. As far as antidepressants/tranquilisers are concerned, we noticed that tricyclic antidepressants were prescribed almost exclusively.