PMID- 32935181 OWN - NLM STAT- MEDLINE DCOM- 20210906 LR - 20210906 IS - 1432-1041 (Electronic) IS - 0031-6970 (Print) IS - 0031-6970 (Linking) VI - 77 IP - 2 DP - 2021 Feb TI - Pattern of treatment of behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia and pain: evidence on pharmacoutilization from a large real-world sample and from a centre for cognitive disturbances and dementia. PG - 241-249 LID - 10.1007/s00228-020-02995-w [doi] AB - PURPOSE: Data concerning the number of diagnoses and of the drugs prescribed to patients affected by dementia are still scarce. Here we test whether or not (1) prescription of symptomatic drugs against Alzheimer's disease (AD) may approximate the number of patients affected by dementia in Italy and (2) adherence to this treatment affects the pattern of prescription of drugs (i.e. antipsychotics and antidepressants) for behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia (BPSD) and the previously reported limited prescription of analgesics. METHODS: This retrospective observational study concerns 84,235 subjects older than 60 years and registered in the provincial prescription database of the health district of Cosenza accounting for a population of 298,000 inhabitants. The prescribing pattern of antipsychotics, antidepressants, and analgesics has been investigated in patients receiving concurrent prescriptions of acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (AChEI) and/or memantine. Data from a single centre for cognitive disturbances and dementia (CDCD) in the same health district were used to explore at which stage dementia was diagnosed. The study was approved by Calabria Region Ethical Committee no. 31/2017 and registered on October 31, 2017. RESULTS: The data show that 859 patients are treated with AChEI and/or memantine; 420 patients (48.89%) receive at least 80% of the recommended medications. CDCD data indicate a delay in dementia diagnosis, which often was made when the patients were moderately to severely demented (Mini Mental State Examination, MMSE