Consumption of psychotropics at the Sayago Health Centre
Abstract
The objective of the present work was to address the distribution of psychotropics intake by a population composed of 91 persons that were 65 years old or older, all users of the Sayago Health Centre. A transversal descriptive study was performed between June to September of 1998 and specifically designed tools were used such as the test of Cage and the Self Reporting Questionnaire (SRQ) test.
Monthly, annual and life prevalence of psychotropics intake was 67%, 75%, and 81% respectively. Monthly prevalence of psychotropic consumption between women was higher than between men. 96% of the whole population did not exhibit alcohol-dependence, measured by the Test of Cage. 56% of the whole of consumers of minor tranquillizers during the last month carried minor psychiatric disorders. It was found that 85% of the total of consumers used psychotropics for at least a year. Prescription was decided by general practitioners in 95% of all cases. The drug that was most frequently prescribed was diazepam representing 52% of all prescriptions.
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