Prevalence of Use of Cardiovascular Drugs in Dementia Patients Treated in General Practices in Germany

Prevalence of cardiovascular drug use before and after diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease

BACKGROUND

Both cardiovascular diseases and Alzheimer's disease (AD) are common in aging populations. We investigated the prevalence of cardiovascular (CV) drug use in relation to AD diagnosis, and compared the prevalence to a matched cohort without AD.

METHODS

Point prevalence of CV drugs was counted every six months, from five years before to five years after AD diagnosis in the register-based Medication Use and Alzheimer's disease (MEDALZ) study, including community dwellers who received a clinically verified AD diagnosis during 2005-2011 in Finland, and compared to a matched cohort without AD. Data on drugs purchases was extracted from the Prescription Register by Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical-classification system codes C* (excluding C04 and C05) and modelled to use periods with PRE2DUP method.

RESULTS

Before AD diagnosis, the prevalence of CV drug use was higher in persons with AD (RR 1.04; confidence interval (CI) 1.02-1.06). At the index date (AD diagnosis date), the prevalence of CV drug use was similarly among persons with AD (75.8%), in comparison to matched cohort without AD (73.4%). However, after that, the prevalence of CV drug use started decline in persons with AD.

CONCLUSIONS

The decline in use of CV drugs after AD diagnosis likely reflects discontinued need for treatment due to weight loss, frailty, decline in blood pressure and serum lipid levels. It may also reflect the change in prescribing due to adverse events and priorities of care to improve the quality of end-of-life.

Treatment Patterns of Patients with All-Cause Dementia in Russia

Background:

Studies on prevalence or the therapy of dementia are rare or non-existent in Russia.

Objective:

The purpose of this study was to analyze the prescription patterns of antidementia therapy in Russia in 2018.

Methods:

This retrospective cross-sectional study was based on the IQVIA Russia LRx database, which covers approximately 11% of all patients enrolled in federal or regional reimbursement state healthcare programs. We descriptively analyzed the proportions of patients treated with antidementia drugs, antipsychotics, antidepressants, and benzodiazepines.

Results:

A total of 12,051 dementia patients were available for analysis. Of those, 6,394 patients had a vascular dementia (VaD) diagnosis, while 3,413 were diagnosed with dementia in other diseases (DOD), 1,128 with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), and 1,116 with unspecified dementia (UD). The therapy with the highest patient proportion was antipsychotics, with 74% of VaD patients, 73% of UD patients, and 47% of DOD patients receiving these drugs. The proportion of patients treated with antidementia drugs was 68% in AZ, 56% in VaD, 45% in UD, and only 9% in DOD. Antidepressants were a relatively rare therapy in dementia patients (between 4% and 12%), and 30% of DOD patients received benzodiazepines, while the proportions of patients receiving this therapy class in other dementias was low (7–10%). Most patients were treated with old-generation drugs.

Conclusion:

The proportion of older drugs prescribed in Russia is higher than in Western Europe, which may likely be due to their low prices, resulting in a higher chance for successful health insurance reimbursement claims.

Frequency of blood pressure and estimated glomerular filtration rate monitoring in patients affected by hypertension: a retrospective study with 176 565 patients in Germany

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study was to analyze the frequency of blood pressure (BP) and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) monitoring in hypertension patients followed in primary care practices in Germany.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

This study included patients who had received at least two hypertension diagnoses (ICD-10: I10) in 2016. The primary outcome of this study was the frequency of BP and eGFR monitoring in patients with hypertension in the year 2016. The impact of the different demographic and clinical variables on the likelihood of receiving at least two BP and at least one eGFR tests was analyzed using multivariate logistic regression models. These two cutoff values were selected on the basis of the recommendations of the European Society of Hypertension and the European Society of Cardiology.

RESULTS

This study included 176 565 patients, 53.0% of whom were women. The mean age was 68.2 years (SD=13.3 years). The mean number of BP tests was 1.9 (SD=3.1), whereas the mean number of eGFR tests was 0.2 (SD=0.8) in 2016. Only 33.7 and 9.1% of the population received at least two BP tests and one eGFR test, respectively. Older age (>60 years), comorbidities (particularly diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and renal insufficiency), and the number of antihypertensive treatments were associated with higher odds of receiving at least two BP and at least one eGFR tests, whereas the duration of hypertension was associated negatively with these odds.

CONCLUSION

The frequency of BP and eGFR monitoring was low in Germany in 2016. Several demographic and clinical variables had a significant impact on this frequency.