SIX out of 10 aged care residents are taking antidepressants, uncovered new research by the Registry of Senior Australians.
It's the first national study investigating the use of these medicines from de-identified data of 779,659 residents from 3,371 aged care homes, between 2006 and 2019.
"We found antidepressants were used by 46.1% of residents in 2006 and this increased to 58.5% of residents in 2019," said study lead Georgina Hughes from the University of South Australia.
The study, published in the Journal of American Medical Directors Association, showed that while antidepressants can have positive effects, they can also cause side effects which can lead to falls and fractures.
"It's important they are only used for the right reasons," added Hughes.
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