Polypharmacy in elderly patients with dementia and its effect on recurrent hospital admission

Abstract

Background: Dementia is an irreversible neurodegenerative disease characterized by a group of symptoms and signs, including memory impairment, language disturbance, and psychiatric changes, and impairments in activities of daily living. People with dementia had higher levels of comorbidities and may receive more medications(polypharmacy) than their cognitively intact counterparts. Polypharmacy has been linked to an increased risk of negative health outcomes in elderly; including adverse effects, hospitalizations, frailty, and even mortality. Objective: To detect the prevalence of polypharmacy use in demented elderly patients and its effect on recurrent hospital admission from February 2022 to December 2022 at Ain Shams university hospitals. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted to detect the prevalence of polypharmacy use in demented elderly patients and its effect on recurrent hospital admission in outpatient clinics of Ain shams university hospital from February 2022 to December 2022.The current study included 90 demented elderly patients who were interviewed to know their personal history, degree of dementia, drug history, medical history, and number of hospital admission in the last year. Results: Prevalence of polypharmacy in our study was 54.4 %. Most of them had minor polypharmacy (38.9 %) who received 4 – 6 medications, and 15.6% of them had severe polypharmacy who received ≥ 7 medications. Our study also showed that 81.1 % of elderly demented patients was admitted to the hospital in the last year, but there was no significant relationship between polypharmacy and recurrent hospital admission. Conclusion: The prevalence of polypharmacy is high among elderly demented patients. Interventions aimed at reducing the prevalence of polypharmacy should be considered. 81.1 % of elderly demented patients was admitted to the hospital in the last year, but there was no significant relationship between polypharmacy and recurrent hospital admission.