Table 1.
Patient and caregiver characteristics
| Characteristic |
AD dementia severity |
p Value1 |
Overall population |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mild | Moderate | Moderately severe/severe | |||
| Patients | |||||
| No. of patients | 29 | 80 | 89 | 198 | |
| Age, years (mean [SD]) | 76.2 (7.12) | 77.0 (7.65) | 78.3 (6.85) | 0.290 | 77.5 (7.23) |
| Sex, n (%) female | 14 (48.3) | 49 (61.3) | 56 (62.9) | 0.364 | 119 (60.1) |
| Time since diagnosis, years (mean [SD]) | 1.6 (1.55) | 1.5 (1.69) | 2.5 (1.99) | <0.001 | 2.0 (1.88) |
| Fell in last 3 months, n (%) yes | 0 (0.0) | 13 (16.3) | 16 (18.0) | 0.052 | 29 (14.6) |
| Neuropsychological assessment in last 6 months, n (%) yes | 15 (51.7) | 58 (72.5) | 47 (52.8) | 0.019 | 120 (60.6) |
| Marital status, married/cohabiting, n (%) | 22 (75.9) | 55 (68.8) | 51 (57.3) | 0.0702 | 128 (64.6) |
| Living location, n (%) urban | 27 (93.1) | 74 (92.5) | 79 (88.8) | 0.6363 | 180 (90.9) |
| Living in own home, n (%) | 27 (96.4) | 78 (97.5) | 81 (93.1) | 0.3134 | 186 (95.4) |
| Education, years (mean [SD]) | 8.8 (4.81) | 7.9 (4.01) | 6.4 (3.94) | 0.008 | 7.3 (4.18) |
| Comorbidities, n (%) yes | 26 (89.7) | 70 (87.5) | 73 (82.0) | 0.471 | 169 (85.4) |
| Patients receiving any psychiatric/hypnotic treatment, n (%) | 10 (34.5) | 33 (41.3) | 47 (52.8) | 0.142 | 90 (45.5) |
| Antidepressants | 9 (31.0) | 27 (33.8) | 35 (39.3) | 0.485 | 71 (35.9) |
| Antipsychotics | 1 (3.4) | 4 (5.0) | 10 (11.2) | 0.469 | 15 (7.6) |
| Anxiolytics, sedatives, hypnotics | 1 (3.4) | 10 (12.5) | 9 (10.1) | 0.310 | 20 (10.1) |
| Patients receiving any AD treatment, n (%) | 21 (75.0) | 68 (86.1) | 81 (96.4) | 0.004 | 170 (89.0) |
| Category/type of AD treatment, n (%) of patients receiving AD treatment | 0.086 | ||||
| One AchE inhibitor | 13 (61.9) | 48 (70.6) | 44 (54.3) | 105 (61.8) | |
| Memantine only | 7 (33.3) | 13 (19.1) | 19 (23.5) | 39 (22.9) | |
| One AChE inhibitor + memantine | 1 (4.8) | 7 (10.3) | 18 (22.2) | 26 (15.3) | |
| Rivastigmine5 | 6 (28.6) | 28 (41.2) | 28 (34.6) | 0.513 | 62 (36.5) |
| Galantamine5 | 0 (0.0) | 1 (1.5) | 1 (1.2) | 0.860 | 2 (1.2) |
| Donezepil5 | 8 (38.1) | 26 (38.2) | 33 (40.7) | 0.945 | 67 (39.4) |
| Memantine5 | 8 (38.1) | 20 (29.4) | 37 (45.7) | 0.128 | 65 (38.2) |
| Caregivers | |||||
| No. of caregivers | 29 | 80 | 89 | 198 | |
| Age, years (mean [SD]) | 61.7 (10.96) | 61.7 (13.37) | 62.3 (12.16) | 0.939 | 62.0 (12.46) |
| Sex, n (%) female | 19 (67.9) | 51 (63.8) | 57 (65.5) | 0.921 | 127 (65.1) |
| Marital status, married/cohabiting, n (%) | 24 (85.7) | 68 (85.0) | 72 (82.8) | 0.658 | 164 (84.1) |
| Caregiver relationship to patient, n (%) | 0.227 | ||||
| Spouse | 17 (60.7) | 35 (43.8) | 35 (40.2) | 87 (44.6) | |
| Child | 10 (35.7) | 40 (50.0) | 41 (47.1) | 91 (46.7) | |
| Other | 1 (3.6) | 4 (5.0) | 11 (12.6) | 16 (8.2) | |
| Caregiver lives with patient, n (%) yes | 20 (71.4) | 48 (60.0) | 58 (66.7) | 0.480 | 64.6 |
| Sole caregiver, n (%) yes | 17 (60.7) | 25 (31.3) | 20 (23.0) | <0.0016 | 62 (31.8) |
AChE=acetylcholinesterase; AD=Alzheimer's disease; ANOVA=analysis of variation; BMI=body mass index; MMSE=Mini-Mental State Examination; NA=not applicable; SD=standard deviation. Percentages calculated based on total population of severity group with available data (0–3% missing), unless stated otherwise. 1p Value for comparison between AD dementia severity groups (ANOVA for continuous variables and Cochran–Mantel–Haenszel test for categorical variables). 2p Value for comparison between AD dementia severity groups for marital status (all categories, including married/cohabiting, never married, divorced/separated and widowed). 3p Value for comparison between AD dementia severity groups for living location (urban or rural). 4p Value for comparison between AD dementia severity groups for living accommodation (all categories, including own home, intermediate forms of accommodation [not dementia-specific], dementia-specific residential accommodation and other). 5Includes all patients taking this medication, either alone or in combination with another treatment. 6p Value for comparison between AD dementia severity groups for how many other caregivers are involved in caring for the patient (0, 1, 2, 3 or ≥4). ‘Mild’ AD dementia severity = MMSE score of 21–26 points; ‘Moderate’ AD dementia severity = MMSE score of 15–20 points; ‘Moderately severe/severe’ AD dementia severity = MMSE score of <15 points.