30% of N.B. nursing home residents prescribed antipsychotics without psychosis during pandemic, data shows
CBC
About three in 10 New Brunswick nursing home residents were given antipsychotic medication without a diagnosis of psychosis during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to data from the Canadian Institute for Health Information.
New Brunswick has the third-highest rate in the country of long-term care residents being prescribed these tranquillizers without a psychosis diagnosis in 2020-21, the data shows.
CIHI has deemed this "potentially inappropriate" use because the residents are given the drugs off-label, not as approved or recommended by Health Canada.
The national average is 22 per cent, based on data submitted by more than 1,300 nursing homes across Canada, or about 65 per cent of all homes.
In New Brunswick, the average is 30.3 per cent.
Among the jurisdictions that submitted full data sets, only the Yukon and Saskatchewan have higher rates, at 37.1 per cent and 30.5 per cent respectively.
CBC News requested a breakdown of the CIHI data by individual homes.
It shows one New Brunswick home ranks second highest in the country — Villa St-Joseph in Tracadie, at 71.4 per cent, after Alberta's Bethany Group, Rosehaven Care Centre, at 77 per cent. Rosehaven operates a provincial specialty program that cares for Alberta residents with complex needs, including mental illnesses.
Three other homes in northern New Brunswick are among the country's top seven.
Of the province's 71 licensed nursing homes, which provide more than 4,900 beds, 57 are above the national average. Six homes have at least half their residents on these drugs without a diagnosis of psychosis.
While there are some legitimate off-label uses, experts agree high rates require a closer look.
CIHI does not set a target rate, said spokesperson Angela Baker.
"Essentially, lower is better," she said in an emailed statement. "While [zero] isn't necessarily a target, it's obviously preferred that the rate of use continually declines."
Health Quality Ontario has set 19 per cent as a target rate, she said.
