Too many unneccesary medications prescribed for dementia patients
Published today in , the longitudinal study of nearly 2,500 people was done with scholars from Yale University and the University of Kentucky.
The number of people living with dementia around the world is 50 million and in Australia is currently 425,000. This has significant cost implications for healthcare systems with recent estimates suggesting that dementia will cost Australia more than $15 billion per year. Dementia is currently the second leading cause of death in Australia.
The key is to communicate closely with GPs, pharmacists and other health professionals
鈥淥ur study found that following a diagnosis of dementia in older people, medication use increased by 11 percent in a year and the use of potentially inappropriate medications increased by 17 percent,鈥� said lead author聽,听NHMRC Dementia Leadership Fellow and Senior Lecturer聽from the Faculty of Pharmacy and Charles Perkins Centre at University of Sydney.
Potentially inappropriate or unnecessary medications included sleeping tablets, pain drugs, depression drugs and acid reflux drugs (proton pump inhibitors).
鈥淭hese medications are typically recommended for short term use but are commonly used long term by people with dementia,鈥� she said.
鈥淎 number of reasons may account for this, including inadequate guidelines, lack of time during physician patient encounters, diminished decision-making capacity, difficulties with comprehension and communication, and difficulties in establishing goals of care.
鈥淭hese findings are of major concern and highlight the importance of weighing up the harms and benefits of taking potentially unnecessary medications as they may lead to increased risk of side effects such as sedation or drowsiness, and adverse drug events such as falls, fractures and hospitalisation.
鈥淔urther efforts are clearly needed to support better recognition of potentially inappropriate medications to minimise possible harms and warrants interventions to minimise such prescribing.
鈥淔or Australians living with dementia and their caregivers (who commonly are responsible for managing medications for people with dementia), the key is to communicate closely with general practitioners, pharmacists and other health professionals to make聽聽and to practice good medicine management techniques to minimise the risk of side effects.
鈥淒eprescribing unnecessary medications may improve an individual鈥檚 quality of life and can reduce unnecessary healthcare聽cost.鈥�
