Table 2 Characteristics of patients admitted with at least one psychotropic drug, with an increased, decreased or stable number of psychotropic drugs at discharge (comparisons carried out with Chi-squared test for categorical variables, or with ANOVA or Kruskal-Wallis test for continuous variables, as appropriate)

N

51

436

177

Age (years), mean(SD)

85.1 (5.8)

84.2 (7.2)

83.7 (6.9)

0.459

Sex (Female), n (%)

40 (78%)

353 (81%)

147 (83%)

0.717

Hospitalization length, median (IQR)

9.5 (6–14)

9 (7–12)

10 (7–15)

0.091

MNA, n(%)

0.643

 Well-nourished

12 (27%)

115 (28%)

44 (30%)

 At risk

24 (53%)

242 (59%)

80 (54%)

 Malnourished

9 (20%)

54 (13%)

24 (16%)

CCI, median(IQR)

6 (4–7)

5 (4–7)

6 (4–7)

0.351

Diabetes Mellitus, n(%)

9 (18%)

86 (20%)

41 (24%)

0.522

CKD (Moderate-severe), n(%)

5 (10%)

51 (12%)

25 (15%)

0.558

CHF, n(%)

7 (14%)

43 (10%)

27 (16%)

0.128

Myocardial Infarction, n(%)

4 (8%)

65 (15%)

26 (15%)

0.372

COPD, n(%)

3 (6%)

42 (10%)

14 (8%)

0.586

Peripheral vascular disease, n(%)

13 (26%)

48 (11%)

35 (21%)

0.001

Dementia, n(%)

18 (36%)

207 (49%)

70 (42%)

0.088

ADL, median(IQR)

5 (2–6)

4 (2–6)

3.5 (1–6)

0.228

ADL disability, n(%)^a

21 (43%)

234 (55%)

93 (54%)

0.253

Setting at discharge, n(%)

0.011

 Home

7 (16%)

141 (38%)

43 (36%)

 Rehabilitation

38 (84%)

227 (62%)

76 (64%)

Delirium in 72h after surgery, n(%)

26 (51%)

171 (39%)

79 (45%)

0.171

N Drugs at admission, median(IQR)

5 (3–8)

5 (3.5–7)

6 (3–8)

0.501

Polypharmacy >5 at admission, n(%)

24 (49%)

186 (44%)

87 (51%)

0.198

Admission

Discharge

Admission

Discharge

Admission

Discharge

Psychotropic drugs, n(%)

 No

0 (0%)

0 (0%)

0 (0%)

0 (0%)

0 (0%)

134 (76%)

 1

45 (88%)

0 (0%)

321 (74%)

321(74%)

108 (61%)

31 (18%)

 2

6 (12%)

42 (82%)

76 (17%)

76 (17%)

47 (27%)

12 (7%)

 ≥3

0 (0%)

9 (18%)

39 (9%)

39 (9%)

22 (12%)

0 (0%)