Introduction:

psychotropic drugs are one of the most prescribed pharmacological groups in medical practice, only surpassed by anti-inflammatory drugs. Their high consumption in the elderly generates important health problems.

Objective:

to determine the pattern of consumption of psychotropic drugs in a group of older adults.

Methods:

a cross-sectional descriptive study was carried out from May to December 2019. The universe was constituted by the 143 senior adults from Consultorio 7, belonging to the Policlínico “30 de Noviembre”, in the Province of Santiago de Cuba, who during the last year had consumed some psychotropic drug.

Results:

the use of psychotropic drugs predominated in women (74.8%), 50.4% were between 60 and 69 years old, 38.5% of the patients were dependent on the use of the drug (the most used were benzodiazepines, mainly chlorodiazepoxide - 30.1% as monotherapy and 8.4% in combination with another drug) and depression predominated as the symptom for the indication of the psychotropic drug (39.9%). The prescription was made in 23.1% by the family physician and 36.4% were prescribed without medical indication.

Conclusions:

the consumption of psychotropic drugs predominated in women in the sixth decade of life. There was no correspondence between the symptoms and the drug consumed. Most of them were self-medicated or prescribed by non-professionals. More than one third of the cases presented dependence to the use of the drug, which was associated with the time of consumption, but not with family functioning.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )