Concomitant antipsychotic prescribing in US outpatient settings.

Background: Clinicians use concomitant antipsychotic therapy for management of psychotic disorders despite a paucity of evidence for this practice.

Objective: To examine national patterns and determinants of concomitant antipsychotic therapy.

Methods: Concomitant antipsychotic therapy was defined as simultaneous use of 2 or more antipsychotic agents.

Hospitalization risk associated with typical and atypical antipsychotic use in community-dwelling elderly patients.

Background: Due to age-related changes in drug disposition and response, elderly patients are more susceptible to the adverse effects of antipsychotic medications than younger adults. However, few studies have examined the impact of typical and atypical antipsychotic use on all-cause hospitalization in the elderly population.

Objective: This study compared the short-term effects of incident use of typical and atypical antipsychotic agents on the risk for hospitalization in a community-dwelling elderly population.

Determinants of atypical antipsychotic use among antipsychotic users in community-dwelling elderly, 1996-2004.

Objectives: This study examined the determinants of atypical antipsychotic use among antipsychotic users in community-dwelling elderly in the United States.

Methods: The study involved analysis of household and prescription files of the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS) data from 1996 to 2004. The analysis focused on the use of six atypical antipsychotic agents namely, clozapine, olanzapine, risperidone, quetiapine, ziprasidone, and aripiprazole among the elderly of 60 years or older.

Online pharmacies: safety and regulatory considerations.

Sales of consumer products over the Internet have grown rapidly, including sales of pharmaceutical products. Online pharmacies mimic mail order pharmacies. To operate legally online, pharmacies must be licensed in every state in which sales occur.

Healthcare outcomes associated with beers' criteria: a systematic review.

Objective: To examine healthcare outcomes associated with Beers' criteria of inappropriate medication use based on a literature review.

Data Sources: A search of MEDLINE, International Pharmaceutical Abstracts, and Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature was conducted to identify articles published from October 1991 to October 2006. The following key words were used: Beers, inappropriate, medication, drug, use, prescribing, and elderly.