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Background: Several chronic diseases accelerate cognitive decline; however, it is still unknown how different patterns of multimorbidity influence individuals' trajectories across the cognitive continuum. Objectives: We aimed to investigate the impact of multimorbidity and of specific multimorbidity patterns on the transitions across cognitive stages (normal cognition, cognitive impairment, no dementia [CIND], dementia) and death. Methods: We included 3122 dementia‐free individuals from the Swedish National study on Aging and Care in Kungsholmen. Using fuzzy c‐means cluster analysis, multimorbid participants were classified into mutually exclusive groups characterized by commonly coexisting chronic diseases. Participants were followed up to 18 years to detect incident CIND, dementia, or death. Transition hazard ratios (HRs), life expectancies, and time spent in different cognitive stages were estimated using multistate Markov models. Results: At baseline, five multimorbidity patterns were identified: neuropsychiatric, cardiovascular, sensory impairment/cancer, respiratory/metabolic/musculoskeletal, and unspecific. Compared to the unspecific pattern, the neuropsychiatric and sensory impairment/cancer ones showed reduced hazards of reverting from CIND to normal cognition (HR 0.53, 95% CI 0.33–0.85 and HR 0.60, 95% CI 0.39–0.91). Participants in the cardiovascular pattern exhibited an increased hazard of progression from CIND to dementia (HR 1.70, 95% CI 1.15–2.52) and for all transitions to death. Subjects with the neuropsychiatric and cardiovascular patterns showed reduced life expectancy at age 75, with an anticipation of CIND (up to 1.6 and 2.2 years, respectively) and dementia onset (up to 1.8 and 3.3 years, respectively). Conclusions: Multimorbidity patterns differentially steer individual trajectories across the cognitive continuum of older adults and may be used as a risk stratification tool. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: We investigate dementia risk in older adults with different disease patterns and explore the role of inflammation and apolipoprotein E (APOE) genotype. Methods: A total of 2,478 dementia‐free participants with two or more chronic diseases (ie, multimorbidity) part of the Swedish National study on Aging and Care in Kungsholmen (SNAC‐K) were grouped according to their multimorbidity patterns and followed to detect clinical dementia. The potential modifier effect of C‐reactive protein (CRP) and apolipoprotein E (APOE) genotype was tested through stratified analyses. Results: People with neuropsychiatric, cardiovascular, and sensory impairment/cancer multimorbidity had increased hazards for dementia compared to the unspecific (Hazard ration (HR) 1.66, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.13‐2.42; 1.61, 95% CI 1.17‐2.29; 1.32, 95% CI 1.10‐1.71, respectively). Despite the lack of statistically significant interaction, high CRP increased dementia risk within these patterns, and being APOE ε4 carriers heightened dementia risk for neuropsychiatric and cardiovascular multimorbidity. Discussion: Individuals with neuropsychiatric, cardiovascular, and sensory impairment/cancer patterns are at increased risk for dementia and APOE ε4, and inflammation may further increase the risk. Identifying such high‐risk groups might allow tailored interventions for dementia prevention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The aim of this study was to determine medication‐related problems (MRPs) in primary care patients over 65 years of age. Methods: Cross‐sectional study based on the electronic health records of patients (65‐99 years of age) visited in 284 primary health care centers during 2012 in Catalonia. Variables: age, sex, sociodemographic variables, number of drugs, kidney and liver function and MRPs (duplicate therapy, drug‐drug interactions, potentially inappropriate medications [PIMs] and drugs contraindicated in chronic kidney disease and in liver diseases). Unconditional logistic regression models were used to identify the factors associated with MRPs in patients with multimorbidity. Results: 916 619 older people were included and 853 085 of them met the criteria for multimorbidity. Median age was 75 years and 57.7% of them were women. High percentages of MRPs were observed: PIMs (62.8%), contraindicated drugs in chronic kidney disease (12.1%), duplicate therapy (11.1%), contraindicated drugs in liver diseases (4.2%), and drug‐drug interactions (1.0%). These numbers were higher in the subgroup of patients with ≥10 diseases. The most common PIMs were connected to drugs that increase the risk of fall (66.8%), antiulcer agents without criteria for gastroprotection (40.6%), and the combination of drugs with anticholinergic effects (39.7%). In the multivariate analysis, the variables associated with all MRPs among the patients with multimorbidity were the number of drugs and the number of visits. Conclusions: The coexistence of multimorbidity and polypharmacy is associated with an elevated risk of MRPs in older people. Medication safety for older patients constitutes a pressing concern for health services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Purpose: The purpose of the study is to evaluate the effectiveness of risk minimization measures—labeling changes and communication to health care professionals—recommended by the European Medicines Agency for use of cilostazol for the treatment of intermittent claudication in Europe. Methods: Observational study of cilostazol in The Health Improvement Network (United Kingdom), EpiChron Cohort (Spain), SIDIAP (Spain), Swedish National Databases, and GePaRD (Germany). Among new users of cilostazol, we compared the prevalence of conditions targeted by the risk minimization measures in the periods before (2002‐2012) and after (2014) implementation. Conditions evaluated were prevalence of smoking, cardiovascular conditions, concurrent use of ≥2 antiplatelet agents, concurrent use of potent CYP3A4/CYP2C19 inhibitors and high‐dose cilostazol, early monitoring of all users, and continuous monitoring of users at high cardiovascular risk. Results: We included 22 593 and 1821 new users of cilostazol before and after implementation of risk minimization measures, respectively. After implementation, the frequency of several conditions related to the labeling changes improved in all the study populations: prevalence of use decreased between 13% (EpiChron) and 57% (SIDIAP), frequency of cardiovascular contraindications decreased between 8% (GePaRD) and 84% (EpiChron), and concurrent use of high‐dose cilostazol and potent CYP3A4/CYP2C19 inhibitors decreased between 6% (Sweden) and 100% (EpiChron). The frequency of other conditions improved in most study populations, except smoking, which decreased only in EpiChron (48% reduction). Conclusions: This study indicates that the risk minimization measures implemented by the EMA for the use of cilostazol have been effective in all European countries studied, except for smoking cessation before initiating cilostazol, which remains an area of improvement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose To describe the characteristics of new users of cilostazol in Europe with the aim to support the evaluation of its benefit/risk as used in regular clinical practice before the implementation of labeling changes recommended by the European Medicines Agency. Methods New users of cilostazol were identified in populations enrolled in five European health automated databases in the UK (The Health Improvement Network [THIN]), Spain (EpiChron cohort and Information System for the Improvement of Research in Primary Care [SIDIAP]), Sweden (National Registers), and Germany (German Pharmacoepidemiological Research Database [GePaRD]) between 2002 and 2012. New users were characterized according to the prevalence of cardiovascular disease and other comorbidities, concurrent use of interacting medications, new contraindications, duration of use, and potential off-label prescribing. Results We identified 22 593 new users of cilostazol. The median age was between 68.0 (THIN) and 73.7 (Sweden) years. More than 78% of users had concomitant cardiovascular disease, and between 78.8% (GePaRD) and 91.6% (THIN) were treated with interacting medications. Prevalence of new cardiovascular contraindications ranged from 1.5% (THIN) to 11.6% (GePaRD), and concurrent use of two or more antiplatelet drugs ranged from 6.3% (SIDIAP) to 13.5% (EpiChron cohort). Between 39.4% (Sweden) and 52.9% (THIN) of users discontinued cilostazol in the first 3 months. Between 41.0% (SIDIAP) and 93.4% (THIN) were considered to have received cilostazol according to the European Medicines Agency labeling. Conclusions In this collaborative European study, most cilostazol users were elderly patients with a high prevalence of cardiovascular diseases and other comorbidity and concurrent use of interacting drugs, indicating that this is a vulnerable population at high risk of complications, especially cardiovascular events. © 2017 The Authors. Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The aim of this study was to assess effectiveness and safety of antithrombotics for stroke prevention in non-valvular atrial fibrillation in real-use conditions. Methods We used a population-based retrospective cohort study. Information emerges from SIDIAP, a database containing anonymized information from electronic health records from 274 primary healthcare centres of the Catalan Health Institute, Catalonia (Spain), with a reference population of 5 835 000 people. Population includes all adults with a new diagnosis of non-valvular atrial fibrillation registered in SIDIAP from 2007 to 2012. The main outcome of antithrombotics' effectiveness was stroke. The main outcomes of safety were cerebral and gastrointestinal haemorrhages. We also estimated all-cause mortality. We used multivariable Cox proportional hazard models to examine association between antithrombotic treatment and main outcomes. Results We included 22 205 subjects with non-valvular atrial fibrillation; 40.8% initiated on vitamin K antagonists (VKA), 33.4% on antiplatelets and 25.8% untreated. We found stroke-risk reduction with VKA, hazard ratio (HR) 0.72 (95% confidence interval (CI), 0.58-0.91), also seen in patients with CHADS2 ≥ 2, HR 0.65 (95%CI, 0.49-0.86), and CHA2DS2-VASc ≥ 2, HR 0.66 (95%CI, 0.52-0.84). We observed a higher risk of digestive bleeding with antiplatelets, HR 1.32 (95%CI, 1.01-1.73). Both VKA and antiplatelets were associated with reduction of all-cause mortality risk; HR 0.55 (95%CI, 0.49-0.62) and HR 0.89 (95%CI, 0.80-0.97), respectively. Conclusions This study found a stroke-risk reduction associated with VKA and an increased risk of gastrointestinal bleeding associated with platelet-aggregation inhibitors in comparison with untreated patients. Both antithrombotic groups showed a reduction in all-cause mortality. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]