MedPage Today (3/9, George) reports, “Of nearly 1.2 million Medicare beneficiaries with dementia, 13.9% were prescribed CNS-active polypharmacy, defined as more than 30 days of overlap for at least three drugs that were antidepressants, antipsychotics, anti-epileptics, benzodiazepines, non-benzodiazepine receptor agonist hypnotics, or opioids,” investigators concluded. What’s more, “gabapentin (Neurontin) – a drug approved for seizures, nerve pain, and restless legs syndrome that’s frequently used for off-label indications – was the most common medication and was associated with 33% of polypharmacy-days,” the study revealed. Nearly “all (92%) polypharmacy-days included an antidepressant. About half (47.1%) included an antipsychotic, 40.7% included a benzodiazepine, and 32.3% included an opioid,” with “the most common medication class combination…an antidepressant, an anti-epileptic, and an antipsychotic, which represented 12.9% of polypharmacy-days.” The findings The findings were published in the March 9 issue of JAMA.
Psychiatric News (3/9) reports investigators arrived at these conclusions after analyzing “data on Medicare beneficiaries with dementia who had Part D prescription drug coverage on January 1, 2018.” Not included in the study were people “living in long-stay nursing homes.”
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— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)