Patient, Physician, and Health‐System Factors Influencing the Quality of Antidepressant and Sedative Prescribing for Older, Community‐Dwelling Adults

Objective

To identify determinants of potentially inappropriate () antidepressant and anxiolytic/sedative prescribing for older, community‐dwelling adults.

Data Sources/Study Setting

Office visits from the 2010 National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey.

Study Design

A cross‐sectional study measuring associations between various patient and physician factors and prescribing of antidepressants, and sedatives among elderly, using Beers 2012/2015 criteria, a clinical decision model, and multivariate logistic regressions.

Data Collection

Visits by older adults (≥65 years) involving medications were extracted to identify visits with antidepressants and sedatives.

Principal Findings

Black race, asthma, depression, osteoporosis, payment type, consultation time, and computer systems with prescribing support were associated with reduced odds of antidepressant prescribing among users. Income, chronic renal failure, diabetes, and obesity were associated with reduced odds of sedative prescribing. Female sex, white race, depression, increasing number of medications, and physician specialty were associated with increased odds of sedative prescribing.

Conclusions

Various patient and health‐system factors influence the quality of antidepressant and sedative prescribing for older community‐dwelling adults. Longer consultations and the use of computer systems with prescribing support may minimize potentially inappropriate antidepressant prescribing. As medication numbers increase, exposure to sedatives is more likely, requiring medication review and monitoring.