Table 4.

Physician Experiences with Discontinuation of Donepezil and Memantine among Persons with End-Stage Dementia, n = 152

Observed effect with medication discontinuation	Donepezila% always or sometimes	Memantinea% always or sometimes
Accelerates patient cognitive decline	30	21
Accelerates patient functional decline	26	23
Emergence of patient challenging behaviors	32	27
Patient withdrawal from family or activities	25	23
Decreases patient time awake	22	18
Decreases patient quality of life	17	22
Increases caregiver burden	22	22

^aResponses are collapsed from four-point scale (always, sometimes, rarely, and never) into dichotomous categories.