Potentially inappropriate medication use among patients with Alzheimer disease in the REAL.FR cohort: be aware of atropinic and benzodiazepine drugs!

Autor: Montastruc F; Laboratoire de Pharmacologie Médicale et Clinique, Faculté de Médecine, Université de Toulouse, 37 allées Jules-Guesde, 31000 Toulouse, France., Gardette V, Cantet C, Piau A, Lapeyre-Mestre M, Vellas B, Montastruc JL, Andrieu S
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: European journal of clinical pharmacology [Eur J Clin Pharmacol] 2013 Aug; Vol. 69 (8), pp. 1589-97. Date of Electronic Publication: 2013 Apr 16.
DOI: 10.1007/s00228-013-1506-8
Abstrakt: Objective: Few studies have investigated potentially inappropriate medication (PIM) use in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). The aim of our study was to assess the prevalence of PIM in community-dwelling patients diagnosed with mild-to-moderate AD and identify the clinical factors associated with PIM prescriptions.
Methods: REAL.FR is a 4-year, prospective, multicenter French cohort of AD patients recruited in centers of expertise. We analyzed patient baseline data at entry into the study. PIMs were assessed using the Laroche list. A multivariate logistic regression was conducted to assess factors associated with PIMs.
Results: A total of 684 AD patients were enrolled in the study [mean age 77.9 ± 6.8 years, 486 (71.0 %) females]. According to the Laroche list, 46.8 % [95 % confidence interval (CI) 43.0-50.5 %] of the patients had at least one PIM. "Cerebral vasodilators" were the most widely used class of PIM, accounting for 24.0 % (95 % CI 20.9-27.3 %) of all prescriptions, followed by atropinic drugs (17.0 %, 95 % CI 14.1-19.8 %) and long half-life benzodiazepines (8.5 %, 95 % CI 6.4-10.6 %). Atropinic drugs were associated with cholinesterase inhibitors in 16 % of patients. In the multivariate analysis, only two factors, namely, female gender [odds ratio (OR) 1.5, 95 % CI 1.1-2.2] and polypharmacy (≥5 drugs; OR 3.6, 95 % CI 2.6-4.5) were associated with prescriptions for PIMs.
Conclusions: These results reveal that approximately one out of two community-dwelling patients with mild-to-moderate AD treated by AD specialists use PIMs. They also indicate that the characteristics of the disease and the pharmacodynamic/pharmacokinetic profile of the drugs prescribed are not sufficiently taken into account by physicians when prescribing for AD patients.
Databáze: MEDLINE
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