Table 2:
Medication use in people with versus without dementia, adjusted for age, sex, and comorbidity burden
| Medication Category |
Mean number of medications in use per visit | Probability of visit with at least 1 prescribed medication in use | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Persons with dementia | Persons without dementia | Persons with dementia | Persons without dementia | |
| Central Nervous System | 2.0 +/− 0.10 | 0.46 +/− 0.02 | 85% (0.81-0.90) | 27% (0.25-0.28) |
| --Cholinesterase inhibitors | 0.57 +/− 0.04 | - | 56% (0.50-0.63) | - |
| --Antidepressants | 0.42 +/− 0.04 | 0.15 +/− 0.01 | 34% (0.28-0.40) | 11% (0.10-0.12) |
| --Anxiolytics, sedatives, hypnotics | 0.26 +/− 0.04 | 0.15 +/− 0.01 | 22% (0.14-0.30) | 12% (0.11-0.14) |
| --Antiepileptics | 0.24 +/− 0.04 | 0.07 +/− 0.004 | 19% (0.12-0.27) | 6% (0.05-0.07) |
| --Memantine | 0.23 +/− 0.03 | - | 23% (0.17-0.29) | - |
| --Antipsychotics | 0.10 +/− 0.02 | 0.01 +/− 0.002 | 9% (0.05-0.12) | 1% (0.008-0.01) |
| Cardiovascular | 2.0 +/− 0.12 | 1.7 +/− 0.05 | 73% (0.66-0.79) | 56% (0.53-0.60) |
| Vitamins & Supplements | 1.1 +/− 0.09 | 0.76 +/− 0.03 | 51% (0.45-0.57) | 33% (0.31-0.35) |
| Other | 0.88 +/− 0.09 | 0.76 +/− 0.03 | 46% (0.39-0.52) | 42% (0.40-0.45) |
| Gastrointestinal | 0.66 +/− 0.08 | 0.40 +/− 0.02 | 41% (0.31-0.50) | 26% (0.24-0.29) |
| Analgesic | 0.51 +/− 0.06 | 0.30 +/− 0.01 | 33% (0.27-0.39) | 22% (0.20-0.23) |
| --Opioids | 0.25 +/− 0.04 | 0.17 +/− 0.01 | 20% (0.14-0.26) | 15% (0.13-0.16) |
| Diabetes | 0.32 +/− 0.07 | 0.22 +/− 0.01 | 14% (0.10-0.19) | 10% (0.09-0.11) |
| Hormone/Metabolic | 0.31 +/− 0.03 | 0.33 +/− 0.02 | 26% (0.21-0.31) | 26% (0.24-0.28) |
| Respiratory | 0.27 +/− 0.04 | 0.25 +/− 0.01 | 17% (0.11-0.22) | 14% (0.13-0.15) |
| Genitourinary | 0.27 +/− 0.04 | 0.15 +/− 0.007 | 19% (0.11-0.27) | 9% (0.08-0.10) |
| Coagulation Modifiers | 0.24 +/− 0.04 | 0.16 +/− 0.008 | 18% (0.14-0.22) | 13% (0.11-0.14) |
Results reflect the predicted mean number of prescription and non-prescription medications in use per visit and the predicted probabilities of taking at least one medication by medication category for a sample patient whose age, sex, and comorbidity count correspond to average values observed among PWD. Selected subgroups for the central nervous system and analgesic categories are provided; these do not represent all possible medication subgroups within those groups. All results are adjusted for weights and survey design to produce nationally representative estimates. Standard errors are presented for means and 95% confidence intervals are presented for percentages. Non-parametric Wilcoxon signed-rank tests support the predominance of higher mean number of medications in use per visit (p=0.007) and higher predicted probabilities of taking at least one medication by category (p<0.001) among PWD compared to PWOD.