Psychotropic Medicines for Non-Psychiatric Indications: A Cross-sectional, Observational Study

Abstract

Background: Off-label use of medicines is quite prevalent in some settings like paediatric department, psychiatry department, intensive care units and oncology departments. The off-label use of psychotropics is also substantial, however, there is scanty data regarding their use in our setup.
Objective: To study the prescription pattern of psychotropic medications for non-psychiatric indications.
Methods: A 6-month prospective, cross-sectional, observational study was conducted in a Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital. Patients who were prescribed at least one psychotropic medication were included in the study. Their demographic data, clinical history and all the medicines prescribed were noted. These prescriptions were analysed for the off-label use of psychotropic medications for non-psychiatric indications.
Results: A total of 200 prescriptions containing psychotropic medications were analysed in the study. Nortriptyline (41%), clonazepam (31%) and gabapentin (20%) were the most commonly prescribed psychotropic medications for non-psychiatric indications. Hypertension (29%) was the most common comorbid condition. The most common non-psychiatric indications for which these drugs were prescribed were neurological headache (35%), restless leg syndrome (14%) and nonspecific arthralgia (10%).
Conclusion: The off-label use of psychotropic medications was found to be substantial in our study population, warranting the attention of drug regulatory authorities to review the status of these drugs.