For professionals

Abstract

Objective
Little is known about the prevalence of neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) and psychotropic drug use (PDU) in patients younger than 65 years of age with acquired brain injury (ABI) in long-term care. The purpose of this study was to assess the literature on the prevalence of NPS and PDU.

Methods
A systematic literature review of English, Dutch and German articles in Pubmed, EMBASE, PsycINFO and CINAHL was conducted using MeSH and free-text terms.

Results
Six articles met the inclusion criteria. The place of residence was mainly a nursing home, and most of the studies were conducted in a population of patients with traumatic brain injury. The sample size ranged from 40 to 26,472 residents, and NPS was assessed using various assessment tools. Depressive symptoms were the most common with a prevalence ranging from 13.9% to 39.3%. Two studies reported PDU in which tranquilizers (59%) were the most common psychotropic drugs, followed by anticonvulsants (35%) and antidepressants (26-34%).

Conclusions
Patients with ABI experience lifelong consequences, regardless of the cause of ABI, which have a major impact on them and those around them. More insight into the extent of NPS and PDU, through prevalence studies, is needed to arrive at appropriate care for these patients.

Keywords
Acquired brain injury, prevalence, neuropsychiatric symptoms, use of psychotropic drugs, long-term care