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Table 5 Drug use in people living in a nursing home or at home by age groups

From: Drug use differs by care level. A cross-sectional comparison between older people living at home or in a nursing home in Oslo, Norway

Drug groups

Age 70–79 years n = 27,610

Age 80–89 years n = 18,668

Age ≥ 90 years n = 4979

Chi-square test for trend in proportion

H

NH

 

H

NH

 

H

NH

 

p-valuea

p-valueb

%

%

RR (95% CI)

%

%

RR (95% CI)

%

%

RR (95% CI)

Opioids

20.4

51.0

2.5 (2.2, 2.8)

25.0

42.8

1.7 (1.6, 1.8)

28.4

48.5

1.7 (1.6, 1.9)

<  0.01

0.71

Paracetamol

14.0

68.3

4.9 (4.5, 5.3)

21.7

70.0

3.2 (3.1, 3.4)

31.6

75.5

2.4 (2.3, 2.6)

<  0.01

<  0.01

Antiepileptic drugs

3.9

20.8

5.4 (4.3, 6.8)

4.2

9.4

2.2 (1.8, 2.7)

3.5

6.0

1.7 (1.3, 2.4)

0.84

<  0.01

Dopaminergic agents

1.4

7.4

5.3 (3.5, 7.9)

1.6

4.7

2.9 (2.1, 3.8)

1.0

2.0

2.2 (1.3, 3.7)

0.48

<  0.01

Antipsychotics

3.8

25.0

6.7 (5.5, 8.2)

4.3

18.4

4.3 (3.7, 5.0)

4.4

13.5

3.1 (2.5, 3.8)

<  0.01

<  0.01

Anxiolytics

14.7

54.5

3.7 (3.3, 4.1)

17.8

49.6

2.8 (2.6, 3.0)

19.8

45.2

1.8 (1.6, 1.9)

<  0.01

<  0.01

Hypnotics/sedatives

24.0

48.1

2.0 (1.8, 2.3)

33.1

49.7

1.5 (1.4, 1.6)

41.0

49.0

1.2 (1.1, 1.3)

<  0.01

0.95

Antidepressants

10.1

39.7

4.0 (3.4, 4.6)

12.5

33.8

2.7 (2.5, 3.0)

13.3

26.8

2.0 (1.8, 2.3)

<  0.01

<  0.01

Antidementia drugs

1.1

13.5

12.4 (9.2, 16.8)

3.1

15.3

16.1 (14.1, 18.5)

3.4

6.7

2.0 (1.5, 2.6)

<  0.01

<  0.01

Cardiac glycosides

1.8

2.9

1.6 (0.9, 3.1)

4.6

5.0

1.1 (0.8, 1.4)

7.1

7.7

1.1 (0.8, 1.4)

<  0.01

<  0.01

Cardiac nitrates

5.1

9.9

1.0 (1.0, 1.0)

9.7

12.9

1.0 (1.0, 1.0)

14.6

19.8

0.9 (0.9, 1.0)

<  0.01

<  0.01

Loop diuretics

8.3

25.3

3.1 (2.5, 3.7)

18.4

27.9

1.5 (1.4, 1.7)

33.1

37.7

1.1 (1.0, 1.3)

<  0.01

<  0.01

Other diuretics

5.7

2.2

0.4 (0.2, 0.8)

7.8

2.4

0.3 (0.2, 0.5)

8.4

3.6

0.4 (0.3, 0.6)

<  0.01

0.12

Beta-blockers

25.3

21.2

0.8 (0.7, 1.0)

33.2

25.0

0.8 (0.7, 0.8)

37.6

25.8

0.7 (0.6, 0.8)

<  0.01

0.14

Calcium channel blockers

17.6

6.4

0.4 (0.2, 0.6)

21.9

9.9

0.5 (0.4, 0.5)

23.1

9.0

0.4 (0.3, 0.5)

<  0.01

0.42

Renin–angiotensin

40.1

20.8

0.5 (0.4, 0.6)

42.7

19.3

0.5 (0.4, 0.5)

40.6

17.0

0.4 (0.4, 0.5)

<  0.01

0.09

Statins

37.0

14.4

0.4 (0.3, 0.5)

35.2

5.9

0.2 (0.1, 0.2)

20.0

2.9

0.1 (0.1, 0.2)

<  0.01

<  0.01

Antithrombotic agents

41.7

39.4

0.9 (0.8, 1.1)

53.9

45.9

0.9 (0.8, 0.9)

58.5

43.5

0.7 (0.7, 0.8)

<  0.01

0.60

Inhalators

18.5

25.1

1.0 (1.0, 1.0)

17.9

20.8

1.0 (1.0, 1.0)

11.6

15.0

0.9 (0.9, 1.0)

<  0.01

<  0.01

Corticosteroids3

9.6

6.4

0.7 (0.4, 1.0)

11.4

8.1

0.7 (0.6, 0.9)

9.4

5.1

0.5 (0.4, 0.7)

<  0.01

0.08

Antihistamines3

12.7

9.3

0.7 (0.5, 1.0)

10.7

8.5

0.8 (0.6, 1.0)

8.8

7.6

0.9 (0.7, 1.1)

<  0.01

0.28

Drugs for peptic ulcer

15.8

24.7

1.6 (1.3, 1.9)

19.0

20.8

1.1 (1.0, 1.2)

18.7

20.9

1.1 (1.0, 1.3)

<  0.01

0.27

Antidiabetics

11.4

16.3

1.4 (1.1, 1.8)

9.2

10.3

1.1 (0.9, 1.4)

5.9

6.0

1.0 (0.8, 1.3)

<  0.01

<  0.01

Osteoporosis drugs

5.1

0.3

0.1 (0.0, 0.4)

8.2

3.0

0.4 (0.3, 0.5)

7.8

1.7

0.2 (0.1, 0.4)

<  0.01

0.70

NSAIDs

23.6

6.1

0.3 (0.2, 0.4)

18.1

5.2

0.3 (0.2, 0.4)

12.7

5.6

0.4 (0.3, 0.6)

<  0.01

0.93

  1. H (home population), NH (nursing home population). RR (relative risk with 95% confidence interval and the population living at home as the reference group)
  2. Number of people in each age group: 70–79 years (NH = 311; H = 27, 299), 80–89 years (NH = 1023; H = 17, 645) and ≥ 90 years (NH = 979; H = 4, 000)
  3. aChi-squared test for trend in proportion of drug usage at home
  4. bChi-squared test for trend in proportion of drug usage in nursing homes
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