Dementia Drugs Often Prescribed Longer Than Evidence Supports

A study by the AARP Public Policy Institute found 70 percent of seniors with dementia prescribed dementia medications took them long-term despite a shortage of clinical evidence supporting their benefit beyond 12 months, reports Healio . "It doesn't seem to be widely known that such treatments have limited efficacy," says the AARP Public Policy Institute's Elizabeth A. Carter. "Given that long-term use of dementia drugs could have financial and health implications ... we wanted to examine real-world prescribing patterns." Generally, 50.7 percent of the study sample were prescribed a dementia drug within one year of their diagnosis and 70 percent of seniors with dementia were prescribed drugs for 13 months or longer. Eleven percent received treatment with dementia drugs for one month or less, and 19 percent were treated for between two and 12 months. Of the 36,000 enrollees in the sample who initiated medication treatment for dementia, 58 percent were prescribed cholinesterase inhibitors, 33 percent were prescribed cholinesterase inhibitors and memantine, and 8 percent were prescribed memantine only. Sixteen percent also were prescribed cholinesterase inhibitors or memantine without an accompanying diagnosis of dementia on the insurance claim. Subjects taking cholinesterase inhibitors and memantine together had the highest total drug costs, with an average of $151 per month and more than $4,800 over the decade-long study period. Alone, the costs for memantine averaged $200 monthly and $3,163 over the study period, but the costs were considerably lower for cholinesterase inhibitors, averaging $59 monthly and $997 total. Some individuals took dementia medication for up to 10 years, costing as much as $18,000 per person.