AD Lib

ID: 10209
Title:Undertreatment of Patients With Alzheimer's Disease in an Elderly United States Population.
Publication Year: 2005.
Format(s): Journal Article , Funded Research
Language(s): English
Audience(s): Physicians , Psychiatrists , Neurologists , Geriatricians
Author(s): Sano, M., et al.
Source: Alzheimer's and Dementia. 1: 136-144. 2005.

Abstract: This journal article reports on the undertreatment of elderly patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in the United States. The authors used baseline data from an open-label, 12-week study of compliance with galantamine, an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor (AChEI) and nicotinic receptor modulator, and vitamin E. The sample consisted of 2,114 patients from 406 community-based US practices in which physicians had previously treated patients with AchEIs. This population reflects a large, ethnically diverse patient pool consistent with the demographics of the elderly population in the US, atypical of those enrolled in most AD trials. The majority of patients (64.5 percent) or their caregivers reported no history of AChEI treatment prior to baseline. Positive associations were found between past AChEI treatment and longer time since diagnosis, white race, higher education, medical care by a neurologist, and older caregivers. The likelihood of having received previous AChEI treatment was higher among white patients (61.0 percent) than among those from other ethnic groups combined (25.8 percent). The findings suggest that many patients with mild to moderate AD are undertreated, and that primary care physicians need to find ways to optimize management of this disease. 4 tables, 36 references. (AA-M).

Major Descriptor(s): ALZHEIMERS-DISEASE , DRUG-THERAPY , CHOLINESTERASE-INHIBITORS , UNDERSERVED-POPULATIONS , PRIMARY-CARE-PHYSICIANS , PATIENT-NEEDS , EARLY-DEMENTIA
Minor Descriptor(s): DIAGNOSIS

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