Medications Affecting Cognition More Often Prescribed for Seniors in Nonoffice Settings

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By Lori Solomon HealthDay Reporter

Medically reviewed by Carmen Pope, Senior Medical Editor, B. Pharm. Last updated on May 5, 2026.

via HealthDay

TUESDAY, May 5, 2026 -- Prescriptions for medications affecting cognition in older adults, such as antipsychotics, are disproportionately more likely to be initiated from settings other than doctors' offices, according to a study published online April 28 in JAMA Network Open.

Dan P. Ly, M.D., Ph.D., from the VA Greater Los Angeles, and colleagues used data from the Health and Retirement Study to examine the clinical settings in which benzodiazepines, nonbenzodiazepine hypnotics, antipsychotics, and anticholinergics are initiated, and the rate at which older patients continue to take them one year later. The analysis included 4,955 new medication initiations, representing 23.4 million first prescriptions among community-dwelling Medicare beneficiaries aged 66 years and older with Medicare fee-for-service claims (including Part D prescription fills; 2008 through 2021).

The researchers found that patients across all cognitive statuses were disproportionately more likely to be in an acute or postacute setting before medication initiation. Among patients with dementia initiating an antipsychotic, 22.0 percent of their overall visits were to acute or postacute settings (versus office), but 43.3 percent were most recently in an acute or postacute setting when initiating an antipsychotic. A high proportion of patients initiating these medications continued to take them one year later, including 67.1 percent of patients with dementia initiating an antipsychotic who continued to take a medication in the same class one year later.

"We were surprised by just how much more frequently medications affecting cognition were prescribed from nonoffice settings," Ly said in a statement. "We shed light on the locations of prescriptions for these medications, allowing for better targeting of interventions to reduce their prescribing."

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Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.

Source: HealthDay

Posted : 2026-05-06 02:14

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