Queen's University Belfast

Academic Institute

Bernadette McGuinness

E040

Receiving multiple medications, known as polypharmacy, increases the risk of developing dementia (Lai et al., 2012) or other functional decline in older people (Lau et al., 2011; Park et a., 2017). Polypharmacy is positively associated with potentially inappropriate prescriptions of medications, namely prescriptions of unnecessary or inappropriate medications that may have adverse effects (Lau et al., 2010), and with higher anticholinergic burden (Park et al., 2017). Research about inappropriate medication prescribing in people with dementia in Northern Ireland, such as the prescription of anticholinergic/antimuscarinic drugs, shows that, in 2013, polypharmacy (≥4 drugs) was observed in 81.5% of people with dementia, with inappropriate prescribing reaching 64.4% of people with dementia in Northern Ireland (Barry et al., 2016). This study will expand these local findings and will provide evidence about inappropriate prescribing for people with dementia from medication prescribed from 2010 to 2016. This study will also explore differences in polypharmacy and hyperpolypharmacy (≥10 drugs) in people with dementia in Northern Ireland. Therefore, the aims of the study are to assess and compare inappropriate prescribing in people with dementia and people without dementia, to assess the rates of polypharmacy and hyperpolypharmacy for these groups, and to explore whether an increased number of medication is associated with greater risk of dementia.

The number of people with dementia is set to increase as the population ages. This will cause a significant financial strain on healthcare services in Northern Ireland. There is a distinct lack of evidence of the effect of polypharmacy and hyperpolypharmacy on the prevalence of dementia and on the effect on people with dementia in Northern Ireland. Information about inappropriate prescribing will also inform local policy and current clinical practice for factors increasing the risk of developing dementia and challenges faced in dementia care.. Such implications to practices may include informing General Practitioners about inappropriate and unnecessary prescriptions that shorten people’s lives, increase the risk of developing dementia, and increase the care costs for the country. This study is part of a larger project on Dementia Analytics funded by Atlantic Philanthropies, the Executive Office, the Department of Health and Queen’s University Belfast, and aims to improve our understanding of dementia in Northern Ireland.

13/06/2019

TRE