Table 3.

Comparative analysis of the prescription of psychotropic drugs in GUs and PSUs during the pre-pandemic and pandemic periods

Treatment group	Pre-pandemic (April 2018−March 2020)	Pandemic (April 2020−March 2021)			Trend (April 2020−March 2021)
	Monthly averagea, %	Monthly averagea, %	Differencec, % (95% CI)	p value	Monthly averageb, %	Differenced, % (95% CI)	p value
Antipsychotics
GU	33.43	33.01	−0.41 (−1.41, 0.60)	0.416	31.21	−2.22 (−3.15, −1.28)	<0.001
PSU	80.53	78.23	−2.31 (−3.68, −0.93)	<0.001	77.05	−3.48 (−4.32, −2.64)	<0.001
Benzodiazepines
GU	39.10	37.10	−2.00 (−3.00, −1.00)	<0.001	33.61	−5.49 (−6.92, −4.06)	<0.001
PSU	31.95	31.93	−0.28 (−2.40, 2.34)	0.981	24.62	−7.33 (−9.08, −5.58)	<0.001
Antidepressants
GU	58.70	58.72	0.02 (−0.97, 1.01)	0.962	53.47	−5.23 (−6.37, −4.09)	<0.001
PSU	63.35	71.92	8.57 (6.89, 10.24)	<0.001	66.52	3.17 (1.49, 4.86)	<0.001
Antiepileptic drugs
GU	22.23	25.16	2.93 (2.27, 3.60)	<0.001	21.06	−1.17 (−1.56, −0.78)	<0.001
PSU	36.29	42.39	6.10 (3.20, 9.00)	<0.001	38.89	2.60 (1.76, 3.44)	<0.001

GU geriatric unit, PSU psychogeriatric unit

^aMonthly average of residents with active prescriptions from the different treatment sub-groups studied. On 1 March, 2020, 674 residents were recorded in the seven studied nursing homes, with 511 in the GUs and 163 in the PSUs

^bMonthly average predicted for the different treatment sub-groups based on the prior usage proportions between April 2018 and March 2020

^cAbsolute differences between the pandemic period (April 2020–March 2021) vs the pre-pandemic period (April 2018–March 2020)

^dAbsolute differences between the prescription proportions forecast for the pandemic period (April 2020–March 2021) vs the pre-pandemic period (April 2018–March 2020)