title: Hypnosedative prescribing in outpatient psychiatry.
abstract: The objective of this study was to describe hypnosedative (HS) prescribing patterns in a typical sample of psychiatric outpatients. Prescription information was extracted from the clinical records of all current outpatients at two New Zealand public mental health centres. This included the type and duration of HS use and documentation of a clinical review of longstanding (>3 months) use, patient sex, age and ICD10 diagnoses. One-third of the patients (35.2%) were prescribed at least one HS; this was longstanding in two-thirds (69%). One in 10 had a coprescription of more than one HS drug. HS use was related to female sex and diagnosis, being more common among patients with nonpsychotic than psychotic disorders and very infrequent in patients on clozapine. In most longstanding cases, a clinical review had been documented. The logistic regression confirmed female sex, diagnosis and clozapine all as independent predictors of HS prescription. HS prescribing in psychiatric illness is more common than in the general population, often longstanding, with polypharmacy being common. The frequent use of antipsychotic drugs as HSs is of concern, given their side-effect profile. As there are risks involved with longstanding HS use, a better rationale for the role of medication in the management of sleep problems in psychiatric disorders is needed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychological Medicine, University of Otago Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand.
authors.forename: Mark A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Huthwaite
authors.forename: Viktoria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Andersson
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Stanley
authors.forename: Sarah E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Romans
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000554:Ambulatory Care Facilities; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003156:Community Mental Health Services; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D011307:Drug Prescriptions; D004359:Drug Therapy, Combination; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006993:Hypnotics and Sedatives / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D008297:Male; D008499:Medical Records; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy*; D008875:Middle Aged; D019964:Mood Disorders / Q000188:drug therapy; D009520:New Zealand; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians'; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000188:drug therapy; D012727:Sex Characteristics
chemical_list: D014150:Antipsychotic Agents; D006993:Hypnotics and Sedatives