title: Prescription patterns and drug costs in German patients with dementia in nursing homes and home-care settings .
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To analyze prescription patterns and drug costs in German patients with dementia who are in home-care settings and nursing homes.
  
  
  METHODS
  The present retrospective study based on the Disease Analyzer epidemiological database and included 41,064 patients treated by general practitioners (GPs) and 20,649 patients treated by psychiatric practitioners (PPs), who were diagnosed with dementia in 2014. Four different types of antidementia therapy were included in the analysis. The shares of prescriptions and the associated costs in dementia patients in home-care settings and nursing homes were estimated. Regression analyses were performed to study the impact of the type of residence on the likelihood of receiving a defined therapy and incurring its associated cost.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Antidementives were more frequently prescribed to patients in home-care settings, whereas antidepressants, antipsychotics, and benzodiazepines were more commonly administered to nursing-home patients in both the GP and the PP groups. Individuals residing in nursing homes had a lower likelihood of receiving antidementives but exhibited a higher likelihood of being prescribed antidepressants, antipsychotics, and benzodiazepines. The total cost of therapy was higher in nursing homes than in home-care settings (GPs: difference of € 27.20; PPs: difference of € 107.90). The cost of antidementives was significantly lower in GP patients residing in nursing homes than in GP patients living at home. There was no significant difference in the cost of antidementives in the PP groups. By contrast, the costs of the three other families of drugs were lower in individuals cared for at home than in individuals residing in nursing homes, in both practice types.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Prescription patterns and the drug costs in dementia patients significantly differed between home-care settings and nursing-home settings. .
authors.forename: Louis
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Jacob
authors.forename: Jens
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bohlken
authors.forename: Karel
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kostev
mesh_terms: D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003704:Dementia / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000191:economics; D016527:Drug Costs; D011307:Drug Prescriptions / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D017048:Health Care Costs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006699:Home Care Services / Q000191:economics*; D006707:Homes for the Aged / Q000191:economics; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009735:Nursing Homes / Q000191:economics; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D055553:Prescription Drugs / Q000191:economics*; D012189:Retrospective Studies
chemical_list: D055553:Prescription Drugs