Pharmaceutical consumption and cost in patients with dementia: A longitudinal study by the Registry of Dementias of Girona (ReDeGi) in Catalonia (Spain).

Objective: Drug spending increases exponentially from the age of 65-70 years, and dementia is one of the diseases significantly contributing to this increase. Our aim was to describe pharmaceutical consumption and cost in patients with dementia, using the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) classification system. We also assessed the evolution of costs and consumption, and the variables associated to this evolution during three years.

Drug use in patients with dementia: a register-based study in the health region of Girona (Catalonia/Spain).

Purpose: To describe the pattern of drug consumption among patients with dementia in a geographically defined general population in Catalonia (Spain), and to determine its association with age, gender, type of dementia and severity indicators.

Methods: Cross-sectional study that included 1,894 cases of dementia registered by the Registry of Dementias of Girona from 2007 to 2009. Prescribed drugs were categorized according to the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical (ATC) classification.

Central nervous system drug consumption depending on the time between symptom onset and the diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease: an analysis by the Registry of Dementias of Girona.

Aims: To describe central nervous system (CNS) drug consumption patterns depending on the time to diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD), and to check whether the cases diagnosed later are associated with greater severity and consuming more CNS drugs.

Methods: Cross-sectional study using 952 cases of the Registry of Dementias of Girona. A binary logistic regression was used to detect variables associated with the use of CNS drugs depending on the time to diagnosis.

A clinical registry of dementia based on the principle of epidemiological surveillance.

Background: Traditional epidemiological studies do not allow elucidating the reality of referral and diagnosis patterns of dementia in routine clinical practice within a defined territory. This information is useful and necessary in order to plan and allocate healthcare resources. This paper presents the results from a dementia case registry based on epidemiological surveillance fundamentals.