Health perception
Health perception–the self-evaluation of one own's
health–has been shown to be more strongly associated
with psychotropic drug use than actual diagnosis of disease
[33]. Some researchers see here an indirect relationship,
where poor health perception negatively influences
the mental health status of a person, which in turn leads
to the request for psychotropic drugs [65,69]. Previous
studies support the correlation between mental health status
and health perception [87-90].
In this review, seven of eight studies (87.5%) examining
the association between health perception and drug use
found a positive relationship. However, two thirds of the
reviewed studies were cross-sectional, preventing conclusions
about cause-effect relationship, and typically more
than 80% of the psychotropic drugs used by their subjects
were benzodiazepines. This raises the possibility that
some subjects had poor health perception as a result of
benzodiazepine consumption. Iatrogenic effects of long
term benzodiazepine use may worsen health and functional
capacity, hence health perception [73,91]. The
present findings confirm that health perception has a
place within a model of psychotropic drug use among the
elderly, yet leave its precise role unclear. A longitudinal
study would help to elucidate this role.