What are some common psychotropic medications or medication classes listed on the American Geriatric Society 2012 Updated Beers Criteria for Potentially Inappropriate Medication Use in Older Adults?
- Antipsychotics (all antipsychotics carry an FDA black box warning regarding association with increased mortality when used in the elderly with dementia)
- TCAs (amitriptyline, clomipramine, doxepin, etc.—due to anticholinergic effects)
- Barbiturates (increased risk of dependence and overdose)
- Antihistamines, anticholinergics, benzodiazepines, and other sedative hypnotics (cause cognitive impairments, delirium, falls)
- Bupropion, clozapine, olanzapine, maprotiline (lower seizure threshold)
Sources
- Ostacher MJ, Hsin H: The Use of antiepileptic drugs in psychiatry. In Stern TA, Fava M, Wilens TE, Rosenbaum JF (eds): Massachusetts General Hospital comprehensive clinical psychiatry. London: Elsevier, 2016, p 536.
- Dolder C, Luna B: Psychopharmacology: a pharmacodynamics approach. In Jeste DV, Friedman JH (eds): Psychiatry for neurologists. Totowa, NJ: Humana Press, 2006, p 317.
- Freudenreich OD, Goff DC, Henderson DC: Antipsychotics. In Stern TA, Fava M, Wilens TE, Rosenbaum JF (eds): Massachusetts General Hospital comprehensive clinical psychiatry. London: Elsevier, 2016, pp 475-488.
- American Geriatrics Society 2012 Beers Criteria Update Expert Panel. American Geriatrics Society updated Beers Criteria for potentially inappropriate medication use in older adults. J Am Geriatr Soc 60(4):616-631, 2012.
