PSYCHIATRIC DISTURBANCES AND THE USE OF PSYCHOTROPIC DRUGS IN A POPULATION OF NONAGENARIANS

The present study examined the prevalence of dementia, anxiety syndromes, depression, psychotic symptoms, sleep disturbance and the use of psychotropic drugs in a population of 330 nonagenarians. Subjects underwent an extensive medical examination, and information on sociodemographic characteristics, mental health, physical health and psychotropic drug use was collected. The prevalence of dementia in the study sample was 46.7% according to DSM-III-R criteria. Demented persons had more often psychotic symptoms (11.7% versus 3.4%) and anxiety syndromes (5.2% versus 1.1%) than non-demented. Depression was equally prevalent in both the demented and non-demented (8.4% versus 7.4%), whereas sleep disturbance was a more common complaint in non-demented persons. Half of the study sample (49.7%) used some sort of psychotropic drug, with the most common being hypnotics and the least common being antidepressants. However, the rate of specific treatment was low, especially for depression, indicating the need for more knowledge concerning the recognition of depression in the very elderly. © 1997 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.