OBJECTIVE: To identify the temporal prescribing patterns of antipsychotics among persons aged 50 and older and to explore the demographic and clinical characteristics associated with each trajectory of antipsychotic drug use. METHODS: This was a historical fixed cohort study on a community-based sample of persons affiliated with the French Insurance Healthcare system. Data from community drug reimbursement claims were collected by the French Insurance Healthcare system over the period 2006-2015. The study included 160,853 persons aged 50 and older. Trajectories of antipsychotic drug use were identified by examining the distribution of antipsychotic use within consecutive 3-month periods over the entire follow-up period. Latent class analyses were used to identify distinct trajectories. Multivariate polynomial logistic regression models were used to explore the characteristics independently associated with trajectories. RESULTS: Five trajectories of antipsychotic use were identified: null or very low use (93.8%), occasional use (2%), decreasing use (1.6%), chronic use (1.5%), and increasing use (1.1%). Occasional users were older and had a lower use of other psychotropic drugs and a high use of health resources. Chronic users had the highest frequency of chronic psychiatric diseases and were less likely to present with dementia or Parkinson disease. Persons with increasing use of antipsychotics were more frequently males and had a high frequency of dementia; half of them died over the follow-up period compared with 20% in the total sample. CONCLUSION: Further studies should explore whether the benefit-risk ratio of antipsychotic drugs in older adults differs according to trajectories of use.Read less <