title: Determinants of psychotropic drug usage in a general intensive care unit.
abstract: During a 3-month period, determinants of psychotropic drug utilization (sex, age, length of stay, reason for admission, disease severity) and data on psychotropic consumption (type of medication--antidepressants, benzodiazepines and antipsychotics--dosage and length of treatment) were retrospectively collected in a general intensive care unit of a Dutch university hospital. Daily exposure to psychotropics was standardized in number of Defined Daily Doses (DDD). Benzodiazepines were used by 35.8% of all patients (137) during their stay in the ICU whereas 17.5% of all patients used a neuroleptic agent. Antidepressants were hardly prescribed. High doses of benzodiazepines (9.9 DDDs) and low doses of antipsychotics (0.5 DDDs) were prescribed, which probably reflect the unusual nature of this critically ill group of patients compared with the reference group for DDD's. Clear patterns of determinants of psychotropic drug use in ICU patients were found and both benzodiazepines, antipsychotics and combined use of these agents could be associated with the determinants assessed. The time patterns we found in terms of length of stay give clues for further investigations in order to rationalize psychotropic drug use in the management of severely ill and complex patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: J J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Stolker
authors.forename: E R
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Heerdink
authors.forename: S E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Pullen
authors.forename: F W
authors.initials: FW
authors.lastname: Santman
authors.forename: Y A
authors.initials: YA
authors.lastname: Hekster
authors.forename: H G
authors.initials: HG
authors.lastname: Leufkens
authors.forename: F G
authors.initials: FG
authors.lastname: Zitman
mesh_terms: D018806:APACHE; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004363:Drug Utilization; D005260:Female; D006785:Hospitals, University; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009426:Netherlands; D010343:Patient Admission / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011619:Psychotropic Drugs / Q000145:classification / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D017678:Sex Distribution; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D011619:Psychotropic Drugs