Affiliations: [a]
Epidemiology, IQVIA, Frankfurt, Germany
| [b] Consulting, IQVIA, Warsaw, Poland
| [c] Faculty of Medicine, University of Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, Montigny-le-Bretonneux, France
Correspondence:
[*]
Correspondence to: Prof. Dr. rer. med. Karel Kostev, Epidemiology, IQVIA, Darmstädter Landstraße 108, 60598 Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Tel.: +49 (0)69 66 04 4878; E-mail: kkostev@de.imshealth.com.
Abstract: Background:Previous studies have suggested that there are substantial differences between countries in terms of persistence with antidementia drugs and that the management of dementia is likely to be population-specific. Objective:The aim of this study was to analyze the one-year persistence with donepezil, memantine, and rivastigmine in more than 66,000 elderly patients followed in Poland. Methods:This study included patients who were prescribed donepezil, memantine, or rivastigmine for the first time in general and neuropsychiatric practices in Poland between September 2016 and December 2017 (index date; N = 66,030). The primary outcome of the study was the one-year persistence with donepezil, memantine, and rivastigmine. Non-persistence was defined as a gap of at least 90 days without anti-dementia therapy. The secondary outcome was the identification of variables significantly associated with treatment non-persistence. Results:After 12 months of follow-up, 42.2% of donepezil users, 46.0% of rivastigmine users, and 65.9% of memantine users were persistent (log-rank p-value <0.001). Memantine (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.58) and rivastigmine users (HR = 0.92) were less likely to discontinue treatment one year after initiation than donepezil users. Furthermore, a younger age (60–64 years: HR = 1.32; 65–74 years: HR = 1.13) and therapy initiated by a neuropsychiatrist (HR = 1.11) were positively associated with therapy discontinuation, while we observed a negative association between the prescription of anti-psychotic drugs and non-persistence (HR = 0.81). Conclusion:One-year persistence with donepezil, memantine, and rivastigmine was low in elderly patients followed in Poland, and was influenced by age, physician specialty, and co-therapy.
