Non-Scientific Drug Prescription in Demented Older People Living in the Community: An Italian Perspective.

Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia, and represents a major healthcare problem. Although little is known regarding the cause of Alzheimer's disease, it is generally accepted that many of its symptoms are related to cholinergic deficits in the cerebral cortex. Furthermore, the presence of amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles, and the severity of cognitive impairments, have been found to correlate with cholinergic loss in the central nervous system. On this basis, cholinesterase inhibitors, which enhance surviving cholinergic neurotransmission by inhibiting the breakdown of released acetylcholine, show evidence of reversing the cognitive degeneration of Alzheimer's disease.The aim of the present study was to use Italian clinical data from the Minimum Data Set for Home Care (MDS-HC) to describe the frequency of prescription of cholinesterase inhibitors (donepezil and rivastigmine) with respect to drugs usually prescribed in demented older patients living in the community (nimodipine and nootropic agents). To our knowledge, no other published estimate of the prevalence of donepezil or rivastigmine use in the elderly population exists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]