OBJECTIVE:

to estimate the prevalence of use of psychotropic medicines and associated factors in adults and elderly, and to identify the main classes used.

METHODS:

cross-sectional population-based study, conducted in Campinas-SP, Brazil (January/2008-April/2009); chi-square Rao-Scott test and Poisson multiple regression were applied.

RESULTS:

the study included 2,472 individuals and the prevalence of use of at least one psychotropic medication in the three previous days was 6.8% (95%CI 5.5;8.1); in the adjusted analyses, there were positive associations between use and female sex (PR=1.48; 95%CI 1.01;2.18), worse health perception (PR=2.10; 95%CI 1.13;3.89), common mental disorder (PR=1.66; 95%CI 1.09;2.51) and emotional problems (PR=8.04; 95%CI 4.87;13.02); black/brown-skinned individuals presented significantly lower use (PR=0.58; 95%CI 0.39;0.88); antidepressants (52.6%), anxiolytics (28.1%) and antipsychotics (17.0%) were the most used.

CONCLUSION:

inequalities regarding sex and ethnicity/skin color were observed; the findings contribute to the evaluation of the rational use of these drugs.

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