Dementia diagnosis leads to more, not fewer, medications for older adults

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When older adults are diagnosed with dementia, you’d think doctors would streamline their medications to make things simpler.

A new study led by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston found that this often isn’t happening.

The study looked into how a diagnosis of dementia affects the medications older people take, and the findings are quite surprising.

Dementia and Medications: What Should Happen

Dementia is a big problem, especially in the United States, affecting millions of people. Older adults who have dementia often also have other health issues like heart problems or diabetes.

That means they’re already taking a lot of medications.

Because dementia can make it harder to manage all these pills, doctors have guidelines that recommend cutting back on medications that aren’t absolutely necessary or could make dementia symptoms worse.

What’s Really Happening: More Pills, Not Fewer

But the study found that the reality is far from the ideal. Researchers analyzed data from more than 260,000 older adults who were newly diagnosed with dementia and compared them with a similar group without dementia.

The data came from Medicare, the U.S. government’s health insurance program for seniors, between 2010 and 2019.

Shockingly, people diagnosed with dementia were actually prescribed more medications in the year following their diagnosis, not fewer.

While some of the increase was in medicines specifically for treating dementia, there were also spikes in other types of medications.

Concerning Trends: Wrong Types of Medication

In particular, the use of medications that affect the brain and nervous system increased after a dementia diagnosis.

This is concerning because these medications can make dementia symptoms worse and increase the risk of falls. These medications are usually not recommended for people with dementia.

There was also an increase in medications for heart problems and diabetes.

While it’s important to manage these conditions, the medications can have side effects and interact with other drugs, making the patient’s overall health situation more complicated.

Even more concerning, some older adults continued to be prescribed medications that are known to have a negative impact on brain function, despite their dementia diagnosis.

Conclusion: A Gap in Patient Care

The study’s findings highlight a big gap in healthcare for older adults with dementia. While guidelines are in place to reduce the number of unnecessary medications, these aren’t being followed as closely as they should be.

This leads to what the researchers called “missed opportunities” to make life simpler and safer for people with dementia by reducing medications that are risky or offer little benefit.

The research serves as a wakeup call for healthcare providers to carefully consider the kinds and amounts of medications prescribed to older adults, especially those with a new diagnosis of dementia.

It’s crucial for healthcare providers to rethink medication strategies to ensure the best possible care for these vulnerable patients.

If you care about dementia, please read studies about low choline intake linked to higher dementia risk, and how eating nuts can affect your cognitive ability.

For more information about brain health, please see recent studies that blueberry supplements may prevent cognitive decline, and results showing higher magnesium intake could help benefit brain health.

The study was published in JAMA Internal Medicine.

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