B.C. seniors advocate questions why undiagnosed elderly getting antipsychotics
VANCOUVER — A quarter of people living in long-term care homes in British Columbia are receiving antipsychotic medication without a supporting diagnosis even though they have lower rates of psychiatric and mood disorders compared with their counterparts elsewhere in Canada, says the province’s advocate for seniors.
Isobel Mackenzie said that while long-term care residents in the province have slightly higher rates of dementia their rates of moderate to severe dementia are lower in comparison so the higher use of antipsychotics is troubling.
“They weren’t on an antipsychotics when they got to a care home and then we put them on an antipsychotic. Why?”
Staffing hours in B.C. are not related to the use of the drugs, Mackenzie said Thursday.