Severe potential drug-drug interactions in older adults with dementia and associated factors

OBJECTIVE: To identify the main severe potential drug-drug interactions in older adults with dementia and to examine the factors associated with these interactions. METHOD: This was a cross-sectional study. The enrolled patients were selected from six geriatrics clinics of tertiary care hospitals across Mexico City. The patients had received a clinical diagnosis of dementia based on the current standards and were further divided into the following two groups: those with severe drug-drug interactions (contraindicated/severe) (n=64) and those with non-severe drug-drug interactions (moderate/minor/absent) (n=117). Additional socio-demographic, clinical and caregiver data were included. Potential drug-drug interactions were identified using Micromedex Drug Reax 2.0® database. RESULTS: A total of 181 patients were enrolled, including 57 men (31.5%) and 124 women (68.5%) with a mean age of 80.11±8.28 years. One hundred and seven (59.1%) patients in our population had potential drug-drug interactions, of which 64 (59.81%) were severe/contraindicated. The main severe potential drug-drug interactions were caused by the combinations citalopram/anti-platelet (11.6%), clopidogrel/omeprazole (6.1%), and clopidogrel/aspirin (5.5%). Depression, the use of a higher number of medications, dementia severity and caregiver burden were the most significant factors associated with severe potential drug-drug interactions. CONCLUSIONS: Older people with dementia experience many severe potential drug-drug interactions. Anti-depressants, antiplatelets, anti-psychotics and omeprazole were the drugs most commonly involved in these interactions. Despite their frequent use, anti-dementia drugs were not involved in severe potential drug-drug interactions. The number and type of medications taken, dementia severity and depression in patients in addition to caregiver burden should be considered to avoid possible drug interactions in this population.

Validación de un punto de corte para la versión breve de la Escala de Depresión del Centro de Estudios Epidemiológicos en adultos mayores mexicanos / Validation of a cutoff point for the short version of the Depression Scale of the Center for Epidemiologic Studies in older Mexican adults

Objetivo. Identificar un punto de corte válido para la Escala de Depresión del Centro de Estudios Epidemiológicos (CES-D) de siete reactivos, que permita clasificar a los adultos mayores según presencia/ausencia de síntomas depresivos clínicamente significativos. Material y métodos. Estudio de tamizaje con 229 adultos mayores residentes de los estados de Morelos y Tlaxcala en México, que fueron parte de la muestra de la Encuesta Nacional de Salud y Nutrición, 2012. Se estimó la sensibilidad y especificidad asociada con el punto de corte seleccionado usando los criterios diagnósticos del ICD-10 (International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision) y del DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition). Resultados. El punto de corte estimado fue CES-D=5. De acuerdo con el ICD-10, los valores obtenidos de sensibilidad y especificidad fueron de 83.3 y 90.2%, y un valor ROC de 87% y, según el DSM-IV, los valores fueron 85, 83.2, y 84%, respectivamente. Conclusiones. La versión abreviada del CES-D puede ser utilizada como una prueba de tamizaje para identificar casos probables de adultos mayores con síntomas depresivos clínicamente significativos.

Objective. To identify a valid cutoff point associated with Center for Epidemiologic Studies, Depression Scale (CES-D) of seven items, which allows the classification of older adults according to presence/absence of clinically significant depressive symptoms. Materials and methods. Screening study with 229 older adults residing in two states of Mexico (Morelos and Tlaxcala), which were part of the sample from the National Survey of Health and Nutrition, 2012. We estimated the sensitivity and specificity associated with the selected cutoff points using the diagnostic criteria of ICD-10 (International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision) and DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fourth edition). Results. The cutoff point estimated was CES-D=5. According to the ICD-10 sensitivity and specificity were 83.3 and 90.2%, and ROC was 87%. Using DSM-IV, the values were 85, 83.2, and 84%, respectively. Conclusions. The short version of the CES-D can be used as a screening test to identify probable cases of older adults with clinically significant depressive symptoms.