Table 1.
Characteristics of all patients who initiated medications for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) between January 2010 and December 2011 (group 1) and January 2012 and September 2014 (group 2)
| Characteristic | Group 1 (2010–2011) | Group 2 (2012–2014) | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| n = 28,581 | n = 75,011 | |||
| n | % | n | % | |
| Sex | ||||
| Female | 18,279 | 64.0 | 48,360 | 64.5 |
| Male | 10,302 | 36.0 | 26,651 | 35.5 |
| Age | ||||
| Mean (SD) | 79.6 | 7.4 | 80.9 | 7.3 |
| ≤64 | 1012 | 3.5 | 1965 | 2.6 |
| 65–74 | 4997 | 17.5 | 10,589 | 14.1 |
| 75–84 | 15,414 | 53.9 | 38,299 | 51.1 |
| ≥85 | 7158 | 25.0 | 24,158 | 32.2 |
| Co-prescribed drugs | ||||
| Antidepressants | 4872 | 17.0 | 13,544 | 18.1 |
| Antipsychotics | 5105 | 17.9 | 14,147 | 18.9 |
| Antihypertensives | 6223 | 21.8 | 19,525 | 26.0 |
| Antihyperlipidemics | 3488 | 12.2 | 10,960 | 14.6 |
| Antidiabetics | 1814 | 6.3 | 6140 | 8.2 |
| Polypharmacy | ||||
| 0–4 | 18,957 | 66.3 | 45,151 | 60.2 |
| ≥5 | 9624 | 33.7 | 29,860 | 39.8 |