title: How long can patients with mild or moderate Alzheimer's dementia maintain both the cognition and the therapy of cholinesterase inhibitors: a national population-based study.
abstract: The aims of this study were to evaluate the duration of acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (AChEI) utilization as well as the patients' cognition maintenance. This study was using panel data from the Bureau of National Health Insurance (BNHI) of Taiwan from 2001 to 2004. Patients with mild or moderate AD were prescribed AChEI (donepezil, rivastigmine, or galantamine). By the regulation of BNHI, if the score of Mini-Mental Status Examination worsened by more than two points or clinical dementia rating (CDR) worsened by one or more grades in the follow-up every half year, the AChEI treatment would be terminated. Kaplan-Meier product-limit method was used to estimate duration of drug utilization. Regression model was performed to analyse the factors affecting the discontinuation of AChEI treatment. Our results showed female are more and younger than male in mild to moderate Alzheimer's dementia. The mean duration of use of AChEI was 432 days. Only 9.6% of patients maintained stable cognition tests results with continued drug refill for more than 3 years. Discontinuation rate in older patients (age > or =76 years) was higher than those in younger age (P = 0.0009). The average duration for AChEI therapy is around 14 months. The elderly are at high risk for treatment discontinuation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, En Chu Kong Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan. sunyu.jj.lu@gmail.com
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: M-S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.forename: C-J
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.forename: R-C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Chen
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002800:Cholinesterase Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003071:Cognition / Q000187:drug effects*; D018672:Community Health Planning; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D013624:Taiwan; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D002800:Cholinesterase Inhibitors