Polypharmacy in elderly patients with dementia and its effect on recurrent hospital admission

Background: Dementia is an irreversible neurodegenerative disease characterized by a groupof symptoms and signs, including memory impairment, language disturbance, psychiatricchanges, and impairments in activities of daily living. People with dementia had higher levels ofcomorbidities and may receive more medications(polypharmacy) than their cognitively intactcounterparts. Polypharmacy has been linked to an increased risk of negative health outcomes inthe elderly; including adverse effects, hospitalizations, frailty, and even mortality.Objective: To detect the prevalence of polypharmacy use in demented elderly patients and itseffect on recurrent hospital admission from February 2022 to December 2022 at Ain Shamsuniversity hospitals.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted to detect the prevalence of polypharmacy usein demented elderly patients and its effect on recurrent hospital admission in outpatient clinics ofAin Shams University Hospital from February 2022 to December 2022. The current study included90 demented elderly patients were interviewed to know their personal history, degree ofdementia, drug history, medical history, and number of hospital admissions in the last year.Results: The prevalence of polypharmacy in our study was 54.4 %. Most of them had minorpolypharmacy (38.9 %) who received 4–6 medications, and 15.6% of them had severepolypharmacy who received ≥ 7 medications. Our study also showed that 81.1 % of elderlydemented patients were admitted to the hospital in the last year, but there was no significantrelationship between polypharmacy and recurrent hospital admission.Conclusion: The prevalence of polypharmacy is high among elderly demented patients.Interventions aimed at reducing the prevalence of polypharmacy should be considered. 81.1 % ofelderly demented patients were admitted to the hospital in the last year, but there was no significantrelationship between polypharmacy and recurrent hospital admission.