Publication date: Feb 07, 2025

There is a growing concern and debate over the inappropriate use of analgesics and psychotropic medications by older adults, especially those with dementia. The long-term effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown measures on these prescriptions remain uncertain. The primary aim was to examine changes in the prescription of analgesics (opioids and other analgesics) and psychotropics (anxiolytics/sedatives, antidepressants, and antipsychotics) in Norwegian home-dwelling older adults before, during, and up to 2 years after the COVID-19 lockdown, with a particular focus on dementia status. Secondarily, we explored individual characteristics associated with changes in medication prescriptions. A prospective cohort study using baseline data from 10,464 participants (54% females, mean age 76 years [SD 5. 8]) from the Norwegian TrcF8ndelag Health Study (HUNT4 70+) linked with the Norwegian Prescription Database. Age- and education-adjusted Poisson regression was applied to examine changes in prescription fills, and multilevel mixed-effects linear regression was used to estimate the mean sum of defined daily dose (DDD) per person per period during the lockdown (March-September 2020) compared to that during the corresponding months (March-September) in 2019, 2021, and 2022. Overall, prescriptions of opioids, other analgesics, and anxiolytics/sedatives were higher in 2022 than during the lockdown. People without dementia had increased prescriptions of opioids, other analgesics, and antidepressants after lockdown, whereas no changes were observed among those with dementia. Increases in prescriptions of opioids, other analgesics, anxiolytics/sedatives, and antidepressants between the lockdown and 2022 occurred mainly among those aged 

Open Access PDF

Semantics

Original Article