Background: The therapeutic options to treat Alzheimer-type dementia (ATD) in recent years, have made it increasingly necessary to become familiar with the employment pattern of these new medicinal products.
Methods: A cross-sectional observational study of the population with ATD treated with acetylcholinesterase inhibitors and/or memantine in the Gallician Health Service. Databases were compiled with the demographic variables and use data during April 2005 of the medicinal products studied.
Results: Of the 5110 patients with ATD, 70.47% were women. The mean age of the women was 80.12 and of the men was 78.61 years old, with standard deviations of 6.66 and 7.03, respectively. The female sex was one of the factors associated with presenting ATD to pharmacological treatment (OR: 1.932 [CI 95%: 1.819-2.052]). The medication used most was donepezyl (44.46% of patients). Significant differences were found in that memantine was used to treat more patients in the group of patients < or =64 years (19.7% in < or =64 years vs. 14% in >64 years [p < 0.05]), and donepezyl was preferentially used in patients > or =95 years (75% in > or =95 years vs. 46.9% in <95 years [p < 0.03]). No significant differences were observed in the use of anti-dementia therapy, expressed in DDD/patient/day between the sexes, age groups, or in the age groups separated according to sex.
Conclusions: The use of memantine (in monotherapy or in combination) is more frequent in patients under 64 years old. Female sex was found to be a factor associated with presenting ATD to pharmacological treatment.