Individuals with intellectual disability (ID) who do not live with their family are not more likely to be prescribed antipsychotics to manage challenging behaviors like aggression, reports a study published today in Psychiatric Research and Clinical Practice.
Rather, patient sex and current medication regimen are the dominant influences overseeing prescribing decisions, noted Eion Plenn, B.A., of Penn State School of Medicine in Hershey, and colleagues.
“Previous studies have indicated that residing in group homes or other non-familial residential settings heightens the probability of being prescribed antipsychotic medications,” Plenn and colleagues wrote. However, there has been limited research directly testing the influence of living environment.
The researchers analyzed medical chart data from 112 adults with ID who received care at a regional health system from 2019 to 2021. Of this group, 55% lived with their biological family, 17% lived independently on their own, and the rest were in settings such as group homes, custodial care, or shelters. About 60% of all patients were prescribed antipsychotics, with the highest proportion of prescribing found for adults in group homes or other supported living.
However, when factoring in other demographic and medical variables, living arrangement by itself was not a significant predictor of receiving an antipsychotic. Rather, sex was the strongest predictor, with males having 4.2 times the odds of an antipsychotic prescription compared with females. Medication count was another influence, as each existing prescribed medication raised the odds of being prescribed an antipsychotic by 10%.
Plenn and colleagues also pointed out that about half the individuals with ID who were prescribed antipsychotics did not have any mental illness diagnosis. “[T]hese findings emphasize the ongoing conversations in which physicians and pharmacists bear the responsibility of thoroughly assessing the potential benefits of medication for people with ID, ensuring both its appropriateness before prescription and the realization of anticipated benefits thereafter.”
For related information, see the Psychiatric Services article “Psychotropic Use Among Youths With Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities.”
(Image: Getty Images/iStock/Ivan-balvan)
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