Citation

Kohnen RF, Gerritsen DL, Smals OM, Lavrijsen JCM, Koopmans RTCM. Brain Inj. 2018; 32(13-14): 1591-1600.

Affiliation

De Waalboog , Centre for Specialized Geriatric Care"Joachim en Anna" , Nijmegen , the Netherlands.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/02699052.2018.1538537

PMID

30373405

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Little is known about the prevalence of neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) and psychotropic drug use (PDU) in patients below the age of 65 years with acquired brain injury (ABI) in long-term care. The objective of this study was to review the literature about the prevalence of NPS and PDU.

METHODS: A systematic literature search of English, Dutch and German articles in Pubmed, EMBASE, PsycINFO and CINAHL was performed with the use of MeSH and free-text terms.

RESULTS: Six articles met the inclusion criteria. The place of residence was mainly a nursing home and most studies were conducted in a population of patients with traumatic brain injury. Sample sizes varied from 40 to 26,472 residents and NPS were assessed with different assessment instruments. Depressive symptoms were most common with a prevalence ranging from 13.9% to 39.3%. Two studies reported PDU in which tranquillizers (59%) were the most prevalent psychotropic drugs followed by anticonvulsants (35%) and antidepressants (26-34%).

CONCLUSIONS: Patients with experience lifelong consequences, regardless the cause of ABI, that have a high impact on them and their surroundings. More insight into the magnitude of NPS and PDU, through prevalence studies, is necessary to achieve suitable provision of care for these patients.

Language: en

Keywords

Acquired brain injury; long-term care; neuropsychiatric symptoms; prevalence; psychotropic drug use