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Volume 7, Issue 4(Suppl) J Alzheimers Dis Parkinsonism, an open access journal
ISSN: 2161-0460 Euro Dementia Care 2017
September 18-19, 2017
Dementia and Dementia Care
September 18-19, 2017 Dublin, Ireland
8th International Conference on
Drug burden and functional outcomes in nursing home patients with Dementia
Lianne M J Sanders
University of Groningen, Netherlands
Purpose: The Drug Burden Index (DBI) is a tool to quantify the anticholinergic and sedative load of drugs. Establishing functional
correlates of the DBI could optimize drug prescribing in patients with dementia. In this cross-sectional study, we determined the
relationship between DBI and cognitive and physical function in a sample of patients with dementia.
Methods: Using performance-based tests, we measured physical and cognitive function in 140 nursing home patients aged over
70 with all-cause dementia. We also determined anticholinergic (AChDBI) and sedative (SDBI) drug burden separately and in
combination as total drug burden (TDB).
Results: Nearly one half of patients (48%) used at least one DBI-contributing drug. In 33% of the patients, drug burden was moderate
(0<TDB<1) whereas in 15%, drug burden was high (TDB ≥1). Multivariate models yielded no associations between TDB, AChDBI
and SDBI, and physical or cognitive function (all p > 0.05).
Conclusions: A lack of association between drug burden and physical or cognitive function in this sample of patients with dementia
could imply that drug prescribing is more optimal for patients with dementia compared with healthy older populations. However,
such an interpretation of the data warrants scrutiny as several dementia-related factors may confound the results of the study.
Biography
Lianne M J Sanders is an clinical neuropsychologist who currently does a PhD on the effects of exercise in patients with dementia. The aim of my PhD project ‘Train
the Sedentary Brain’ (Deltaplan Dementia, ZonMW: Memorabel) is to delay the progression of dementia with a combined aerobic and strength exercise program.
Within this project, we investigate the dose-response relationship between exercise and cognition, and possible moderating effects of ApoE4 carriership on exercise
effects, in a sample of patients with mild-to-moderate dementia.
Lianne M J Sanders, J Alzheimers Dis Parkinsonism 2017, 7:4(Suppl)
DOI: 10.4172/2161-0460-C1-027