Use of psychotropic medication in Santiago, Chile

Background: During the last few decades, the use of psychotropic medication by the general population has been a topic of scientific and public interest. However there have been few studies in Latin America to assess this situation.

Aims: To study the prevalence in use of psychotropic medication in the city of Santiago and the associations with sociodemographic and physical and mental health factors.

Methods: Cross-sectional survey of private households randomly chosen with a probabilistic sampling design.

Results: Three-thousand-eight-hundred-and-seventy subjects were interviewed. The overall prevalence of the use of psychotropic medication in Greater Santiago was 6.4% (95% CI). Sex, age, mental and physical health problems were all significantly associated with a higher prevalence of psychotropic medication use.

Conclusions: The prevalence of psychotropic use in the Greater Santiago area seems lower than in other cities. However similar socio-demographic and health factors were associated with the use of psychotropic medication as in other countries. There is a need to unify methodologies to be able to compare results internationally.