Association between polypharmacy and mild cognitive impairment in older adults
Keywords:
aging, cognitive dysfunction, polypharmacy.Abstract
Introduction: There is a transitional state between dementia and normal cognition, which is mild cognitive impairment, and patients at advanced ages with this syndrome present high rates of polypharmacy.
Objective: To determine the association between polypharmacy and mild cognitive impairment in older adults in a community.
Methods: An observational, analytical, case-control study was carried out from January to December 2023, in the health area of the Ramón López Peña polyclinic in Santiago de Cuba. The study population consisted of 349 older adults of both sexes. Sixty older adults with a diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment who consumed one or more medications were selected.
Results: Older adults with mild cognitive impairment who consumed drugs reported taking between five to nine drugs (polypharmacy), mostly psychotropic drugs; being between 70 to 79 years old, being female and having primary education constituted a risk, while a large number of them presented at least two non-communicable diseases.
Conclusions: In the older adults studied there is an association between polypharmacy and mild cognitive impairment, which is why in this population group comprehensive medical attention should be given to the indiscriminate consumption of drugs in order to detect early the presence of geriatric syndromes such as MCI and polypharmacy.