New Alzheimer Disease Findings from University of Eastern Finland Outlined (Longitudinal Study of Medication Use In Caregivers of People With Alzheimer’s Disease – Kuopio Alsova Study)

2020 AUG 24 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Information Technology Daily -- New research on Neurodegenerative Diseases and Conditions - Alzheimer Disease is the subject of a report. According to news reporting out of Kuopio, Finland, by NewsRx editors, research stated, “The longitudinal pattern of medication use among family caregivers of people with dementia is not well understood, despite the potential for medication over- or under-use. To investigate caregiver medication use over a five-year follow-up using data obtained via self-report and from a national prescription register, and compare agreement between medication data obtained from the two sources.”

Funders for this research include Paivikki ja Sakari Sohlbergin Saatio, Kuopio University Hospital.

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from the University of Eastern Finland, “Medication data for 222 family caregivers of people with Alzheimer’s disease were obtained via self-report and from the Finnish Social Insurance Institution. Generalised estimating equations, Kappa statistics and related samples Wilcoxon signed rank test were used to analyse medication use over time. The mean number of medications used by caregivers increased from 3.4 to 4.1 (self-reported current regular medications) and 2.4 to 2.8 (reimbursed prescription medications during the past 90 days) over five years (p < 0.001). Significantly, more medications were identified via self-report (mean 3.6, SD = 3.3) than the national prescription register (mean 2.6, SD = 2.4, Z= -12.300, p< 0.001). Agreement between the two data sources was good for cardiovascular medications and anti-hypertensives (Kappa = 0.883-0.967, p< 0.001) and medications for acid-related disorders (Kappa = 0.508-0.092, p< 0.001). Agreement was moderate for analgesics (Kappa = 0.281-0.477, p< 0.001) and psychotropics (Kappa = 0.281-0.562, p< 0.002). The proportion of caregivers using five or more medications increased from 27.5% to 44.6% (self-report), and 16.7% to 27.7% (register) (p < 0.001).”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “Caregivers use an increasing number of medications in the first five years of caring for persons with dementia, and self-report using a higher number of medications than data from the national prescription register suggest.”

For more information on this research see: Longitudinal Study of Medication Use In Caregivers of People With Alzheimer’s Disease - Kuopio Alsova Study. Dementia, 2020;19(5):1573-1585. Dementia can be contacted at: Sage Publications Ltd, 1 Olivers Yard, 55 City Road, London EC1Y 1SP, England.

Our news journalists report that additional information may be obtained by contacting Tarja Valimaki, University of Eastern Finland, Dept. of Nursing Sciences, Yliopistonranta 1B, Fin-70210 Kuopio, Finland. Additional authors for this research include Anne M. Koivisto, Julia F. M. Gilmartin-Thomas, J. Simon Bell and Tuomas Selander.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1177/1471301218802675. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

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