Trends in Prescription of Drugs for the Treatment of Dementia in Slovenia in the Period from 2008 to 2018
Keywords:
dementia, drugs, prescriptions, trendsAbstract
Dementia is a clinical syndrome in mostly older people that manifests with cognitive function problems. Its consequences represent a growing health, social and economic problem in many countries. Monitoring drug prescription contributes to better management of treatment. Our aim was to evaluate changes and trends in the prescribing of drugs for the treatment of dementia in Slovenia in the period from 2008 to 2018, by gender and age groups. Therefore, we conducted a retrospective, observational study based on the data from the “Database of prescriptions for outpatients” of the Republic of Slovenia. The analysis showed that the number of prescriptions for anti-dementia drugs increased by 140% between 2008 and 2018. The most commonly prescribed drugs were acetylcholinesterase enzyme inhibitors. Outpatient prescribing increased in both men and women, and the number of recipients of at least one prescription more than doubled in the observed period. However, not all dementia patients are treated with appropriate medicines, especially at an early stage of the disease when dementia is not yet
recognized or diagnosed.
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