Potential Unintended Consequences of Antipsychotic Reduction in Ontario Nursing Homes

Antipsychotic reduction in nursing homes has been a focus of research and policy attention for several decades; however, there is evidence that these initiatives may have had unintended consequences, such as medication substitution and changes in diagnosis coding. Our objectives were to describe temporal changes in the use of antipsychotics, potential substitution medications, and diagnoses and symptoms used to establish the appropriateness of antipsychotic prescribing.