Adherence to Medication Regimens is an Effective Indicator of Cognitive Dysfunction in Elderly Individuals.
BACKGROUND
Cognitive abilities strongly influence medication adherence among elderly individuals. We aimed to evaluate the relationship between medication adherence and cognitive decline using Lawton's instrumental activities of daily living (IADL) scoring system and the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE).


METHODS
Receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to evaluate the IADL scores and MMSE results.


RESULTS
The ROC curve analysis of the IADL and MMSE results revealed that the shopping (MMSE cutoff = 22 points, sensitivity = 0.726, and specificity = 0.683) and responsibility for own medications (MMSE cutoff = 22 points, sensitivity = 0.759, and specificity = 0.720) categories were associated with declining IADL scores during early stage cognitive dysfunction.


CONCLUSIONS
Declining IADL scores in the shopping and responsibility for own medications categories may be effective indices for predicting early-stage cognitive dysfunction in elderly individuals. Cognitive dysfunction screening at pharmacy counters may be useful.
Department of Pharmacy, National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, Obu, Japan mizokami@ncgg.go.jp.
Fumihiro
F
Mizokami
Department of Pharmacy, National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, Obu, Japan.
Hiroki
H
Mase
Department of Pharmacy, National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, Obu, Japan.
Tomoyasu
T
Kinoshita
Department of Pharmacy, National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, Obu, Japan.
Takahiro
T
Kumagai
Department of Pharmacy, National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, Obu, Japan Department of Clinical Research and Development, National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, Obu, Japan.
Katsunori
K
Furuta
Department of Pharmacy, National Center for Geriatrics and Gerontology, Obu, Japan.
Kazuhiro
K
Ito
D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000523:psychology; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003704:Dementia / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D055118:Medication Adherence / Q000523:psychology*; D008609:Mental Status Schedule; D019338:Polypharmacy; D012189:Retrospective Studies
Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE); cognitive decline; instrumental activities of daily living (IADL); medication adherence