title: Demographic, clinical, and functional factors associated with antidepressant use in the home healthcare elderly.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Determine rates and demographic, clinical, and functional correlates of antidepressants (ADs) in home healthcare patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Year 2007 cross-sectional National Home Health and Hospice Care Survey (N = 3,226) of patients 65 years or older (mean 80.11, confidence interval [CI] = 79.65-80.57).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Overall 33.50% used ADs. Among the 6.76% with depression, 70.84% used ADs compared with 29.15% who used ADs without a documented depression diagnosis. In a regression, controlling for depression, blacks used less ADs than whites (odds ratio [OR] = 0.41, CI = 0.24-0.70). Younger age (OR = 0.96, CI = 0.94-0.98), activities of daily living impairments (OR = 1.15, CI = 1.05-1.26), benzodiazepines (OR = 2.63, CI = 1.88-3.69), antipsychotics (OR = 2.08, CI = 1.29-3.36), and nonpsychotropics (OR = 1.07, CI = 1.04-1.10) were related to AD use.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Among home healthcare patients, more than one-third took ADs including patients without depression. Blacks used fewer ADs than whites. Increased use was associated with younger age, disability, and nonpsychotropics.
authors: Department of Psychiatry, Weill Cornell Medical College, White Plains, NY 10601, USA. juw7002@med.cornell.edu
authors: Judith
authors: J
authors: Weissman
authors: Barnett S
authors: BS
authors: Meyers
authors: Samiran
authors: S
authors: Ghosh
authors: Martha L
authors: ML
authors: Bruce
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000928:Antidepressive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000188:drug therapy*; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006699:Home Care Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male
chemical_list: D000928:Antidepressive Agents