In a study published in the Aging and Disease journal, the links between evolving polypharmacy, which involves a patient being prescribed more than one drug at any given time, and a dementia diagnosis were revealed. In this first-of-its-kind study, the records of more than 33,000 dementia patients in Wales between 1990 and 2015 were analysed by using machine learning techniques to identify potentially damaging patterns in a patient’s medicine usage and how these patterns evolve in the run-up to diagnosis.

The findings of the study revealed that in the 20 years leading up to the dementia diagnosis, the proportion of patients taking three or more medications rose from 5.5% to 82.16% in less than five years from the diagnosis. The researchers also observed that as the progression of dementia progressed, the patterns of polypharmacy shifted from distinct usage to be more closely associated with particular medical conditions.

They also saw that in periods close to diagnosis, almost two-thirds of the patients (66.55%) were taking multiple medicines for a combination of respiratory or urinary infections, arthropathies and rheumatism, and cardiovascular disease. Further, 22% of the patients were found to be taking medicines for infections, arthropathies, rheumatism, cardio-metabolic disease, and depression.

(Source: https://theprint.in/health/study-explores-links-between-people-taking-multiple-medications-and-dementia-diagnosis/1166967/ )