Polypharmacy in elderly patients with dementia and its effect on recurrent hospital admission

Background: Dementia is an irreversible neurodegenerative disease characterized by a group
of symptoms and signs, including memory impairment, language disturbance, psychiatric
changes, and impairments in activities of daily living. People with dementia had higher levels of
comorbidities and may receive more medications(polypharmacy) than their cognitively intact
counterparts. Polypharmacy has been linked to an increased risk of negative health outcomes in
the elderly; including adverse effects, hospitalizations, frailty, and even mortality.
Objective: To detect the prevalence of polypharmacy use in demented elderly patients and its
effect on recurrent hospital admission from February 2022 to December 2022 at Ain Shams
university hospitals.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted to detect the prevalence of polypharmacy use
in demented elderly patients and its effect on recurrent hospital admission in outpatient clinics of
Ain Shams University Hospital from February 2022 to December 2022. The current study included
90 demented elderly patients were interviewed to know their personal history, degree of
dementia, drug history, medical history, and number of hospital admissions in the last year.
Results: The prevalence of polypharmacy in our study was 54.4 %. Most of them had minor
polypharmacy (38.9 %) who received 4–6 medications, and 15.6% of them had severe
polypharmacy who received ≥ 7 medications. Our study also showed that 81.1 % of elderly
demented patients were admitted to the hospital in the last year, but there was no significant
relationship between polypharmacy and recurrent hospital admission.
Conclusion: The prevalence of polypharmacy is high among elderly demented patients.
Interventions aimed at reducing the prevalence of polypharmacy should be considered. 81.1 % of
elderly demented patients were admitted to the hospital in the last year, but there was no significant
relationship between polypharmacy and recurrent hospital admission.