You are seeing a free-to-access but limited selection of the activity Altmetric has collected about this research output.
Click here to find out more.
X Demographics
Mendeley readers
Attention Score in Context
| Title |
Off-label prescription of psychiatric drugs by non-psychiatrist physicians in three general hospitals in Germany
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
Annals of General Psychiatry, February 2018
|
| DOI | 10.1186/s12991-018-0176-4 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
Caroline Lücke, Jürgen M. Gschossmann, Teja W. Grömer, Sebastian Moeller, Charlotte E. Schneider, Aikaterini Zikidi, Alexandra Philipsen, Helge H. O. Müller |
| Abstract |
Off-label prescribing of psychoactive drugs is a common practice in psychiatry. Here, we sought to investigate the frequency of off-label prescribing in a population of hospitalized patients with a somatic illness who were also suffering from a psychiatric pathology. Using a prospective, observational design, we collected data from 982 hospitalized patients with a somatic illness for whom a psychiatric consultation was requested because of the presence of additional psychiatric symptoms. Data were collected at three hospitals in Germany. Demographic and clinical data, including the previous psychoactive medications and an assessment of the suitability of the previous medications, were recorded and analyzed. Data on the previous psychiatric medications were available for 972 patients. In 16.6% of patients, at least one psychoactive drug had been prescribed off-label, 20.2% had received on-label medication, and 63.2% had not received any psychiatric medication. Among all patients receiving psychiatric medication, 45.1% had received off-label medication. The logistic regression analysis showed a significant influence of age on the likelihood of receiving off-label medication (p = 0.018). Benzodiazepines were the most frequent off-label prescription (25.8% of off-label prescriptions), followed by atypical antipsychotics (18.2%) and low-potency antipsychotics (17.2%). Notably, 57.1% of off-label prescriptions were judged to be 'not indicated' by experienced psychiatrists. Our data show a high frequency of the off-label prescription of psychoactive drugs by physicians treating patients with somatic illnesses in general hospitals. Because more than half of these cases were judged to be "not indicated", these prescriptions indicate a potential risk to patients. Furthermore, the classes of drugs that were most frequently prescribed off-label, benzodiazepines and antipsychotics, both show a substantial risk profile, particularly for elderly patients. |
X Demographics
The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 3 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 1 | 33% |
| Unknown | 2 | 67% |
Demographic breakdown
| Type | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Practitioners (doctors, other healthcare professionals) | 2 | 67% |
| Members of the public | 1 | 33% |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 27 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Unknown | 27 | 100% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Student > Master | 4 | 15% |
| Researcher | 4 | 15% |
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 4 | 15% |
| Other | 1 | 4% |
| Student > Doctoral Student | 1 | 4% |
| Other | 1 | 4% |
| Unknown | 12 | 44% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Pharmacology, Toxicology and Pharmaceutical Science | 4 | 15% |
| Medicine and Dentistry | 4 | 15% |
| Psychology | 2 | 7% |
| Business, Management and Accounting | 1 | 4% |
| Nursing and Health Professions | 1 | 4% |
| Other | 2 | 7% |
| Unknown | 13 | 48% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 2. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 12 February 2018.
All research outputs
#14,967,526
of 23,023,224 outputs
Outputs from Annals of General Psychiatry
#268
of 514 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#255,692
of 439,449 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Annals of General Psychiatry
#6
of 8 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 23,023,224 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 32nd percentile – i.e., 32% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 514 research outputs from this source. They typically receive more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 8.2. This one is in the 44th percentile – i.e., 44% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 439,449 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one is in the 38th percentile – i.e., 38% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.
We're also able to compare this research output to 8 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has scored higher than 2 of them.