title: Concomitant use of anti-dementia drugs with psychotropic drugs in Norway--a population-based study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Concomitant use of anti-dementia drugs with psychotropic drugs is potentially problematic in patients with dementia. The aim of this study was to investigate how frequently patients in Norway use anti-dementia drugs concomitantly with psychotropic drugs.
  
  
  METHODS
  Analyses are based on data from the Norwegian Prescription Database. All patients who had an anti-dementia drug (ATC-code N06D) dispensed from a Norwegian pharmacy between January 2004 and July 2009 were included.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 33,816 individuals received anti-dementia drugs at some time during this period. The total concomitant use of anti-dementia drugs with psychotropic drugs was 57.4% in men and 65.8% in women. Compared with men, a significantly higher percentage of women used antidepressants (35.8% versus 27.2%), mild hypnotics (28.8% versus 23.6%), benzodiazepines (25.4% versus 20.8%) and opioids (22.8% versus 17.4%) concomitantly with anti-dementia drugs. Concomitant use of antipsychotics with anti-dementia drugs was about 16% for both male and female patients. Of the total sample, 11.9% of the women and 11.7% of the men used acetylcholinesterase inhibitor (AChEI) anti-dementia drugs concomitantly with an interacting psychotropic drug.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The concomitant use of psychotropic drugs with anti-dementia drugs was extensive, especially among women. Co-medication with potentially interacting drugs occurred at a rate of one in 10. The concomitant use of anti-dementia drugs with psychotropic drugs identified in this study may inform the ongoing clinical debate about drug use in this patient group.
authors.affiliation: Division of Mental Health, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway. ellen.melbye.langballe@fhi.no
authors.forename: Ellen Melbye
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Langballe
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Engdahl
authors.forename: Geir
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Selbaek
authors.forename: Hedvig
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nordeng
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002491:Central Nervous System Agents / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016208:Databases, Factual / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003704:Dementia / Q000188:drug therapy*; D004347:Drug Interactions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009664:Norway; D011619:Psychotropic Drugs / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D012737:Sex Factors
chemical_list: D002491:Central Nervous System Agents; D011619:Psychotropic Drugs