Anna Axmon1, Jimmie Kristensson2, Gerd Ahlström3, Patrik Midlöv4. 1. Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Lund University, SE 221 00 Lund, Sweden. Electronic address: anna.axmon@med.lu.se. 2. Department of Health, Blekinge Institute of Technology, Karlskrona, Sweden. Electronic address: jimmie.kristensson@med.lu.se. 3. Department of Health Sciences, Lund University, SE 221 00 Lund, Sweden. Electronic address: gerd.ahlstrom@med.lu.se. 4. Center for Primary Health Care Research, Department of Clinical Sciences in Malmö, Lund University, SE 221 00 Lund, Sweden. Electronic address: patrik.midlov@med.lu.se.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Although people with intellectual disability (ID) and people with dementia have high drug prescription rates, there is a lack of studies investigating drug use among those with concurrent diagnoses of ID and dementia. AIM: To investigate the use of antipsychotics, benzodiazepine derivatives, and drugs recommended for dementia treatment (anticholinesterases [AChEIs] and memantine) among people with ID and dementia. METHODS AND PROCEDURES: Having received support available for people with ID and/or autism spectrum disorder (ASD) was used as a proxy for ID. The ID cohort consisted of 7936 individuals, aged at least 55 years in 2012, and the referent cohort of age- and sex-matched people from the general population (gPop). People with a specialists' diagnosis of dementia during 2002-2012 were identified (ID, n=180; gPop, n=67), and data on prescription of the investigated drugs during the period 2006-2012 were collected. OUTCOME AND RESULTS: People with ID/ASD and dementia were more likely than people with ID/ASD but without dementia to be prescribed antipsychotics (50% vs 39% over the study period; odds ratio (OR) 1.85, 95% confidence interval 1.13-30.3) and benzodiazepine derivatives (55% vs 36%; OR 2.42, 1.48-3.98). They were also more likely than people with dementia from the general population to be prescribed antipsychotics (50% vs 25%; OR 3.18, 1.59-6.34), but less likely to be prescribed AChEIs (28% vs 45%; OR 0.32, 0.16-0.64).
BACKGROUND: Although people with intellectual disability (ID) and people with dementia have high drug prescription rates, there is a lack of studies investigating drug use among those with concurrent diagnoses of ID and dementia. AIM: To investigate the use of antipsychotics, benzodiazepine derivatives, and drugs recommended for dementia treatment (anticholinesterases [AChEIs] and memantine) among people with ID and dementia. METHODS AND PROCEDURES: Having received support available for people with ID and/or autism spectrum disorder (ASD) was used as a proxy for ID. The ID cohort consisted of 7936 individuals, aged at least 55 years in 2012, and the referent cohort of age- and sex-matched people from the general population (gPop). People with a specialists' diagnosis of dementia during 2002-2012 were identified (ID, n=180; gPop, n=67), and data on prescription of the investigated drugs during the period 2006-2012 were collected. OUTCOME AND RESULTS:People with ID/ASD and dementia were more likely than people with ID/ASD but without dementia to be prescribed antipsychotics (50% vs 39% over the study period; odds ratio (OR) 1.85, 95% confidence interval 1.13-30.3) and benzodiazepine derivatives (55% vs 36%; OR 2.42, 1.48-3.98). They were also more likely than people with dementia from the general population to be prescribed antipsychotics (50% vs 25%; OR 3.18, 1.59-6.34), but less likely to be prescribed AChEIs (28% vs 45%; OR 0.32, 0.16-0.64).