Prevalence of neuropsychiatric symptoms and psychotropic drug use in patients with acquired brain injury in long-term care: a systematic review

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 ABI 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.

KEYWORDS:

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

Author contributions

Roy Kohnen designed the review, evaluated the articles for inclusion, evaluated the methodology of the included articles and wrote the paper. Debby Gerritsen assisted in the design of the review, evaluated the articles for inclusion and co-wrote the paper. Odile Smals evaluated the methodology of the included articles. Jan Lavrijsen assisted in the design of the review and co-wrote the paper. Raymond Koopmans assisted in the design of the review, co-wrote the paper and gave the final approval.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

The study is supported and funded by Vivent, a long-term care/nursing home organization in Den Bosch and Rosmalen area, the Netherlands.