Cholinesterase inhibitors for patients with dementia: Patterns of prescribing and disparities in treatment

Abstract

Background

Cholinesterase inhibitors (ChEIs) are cornerstones of the symptomatic treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) and are also prescribed for vascular dementia (VaD). Despite their widespread use, patterns of ChEI prescribing are unclear.

Objective

Our objective was to examine the prevalence, timing, and types of ChEI prescriptions before and after dementia diagnosis.

Methods

We analyzed electronic health record and claims data for patients diagnosed with AD, DLB, or VaD between October 2015 and August 2022 from a large U.S. healthcare system. ChEI claims (donepezil, rivastigmine, galantamine) were identified in the ±3 years surrounding dementia diagnosis. Repeated measures logistic regression was used to estimate the likelihood of ChEI fills by time-period, dementia type, and time x dementia type interaction to determine if change in prescription patterns significantly differed by diagnosis.

Results

Among 3166 eligible patients, DLB had the highest prevalence of ChEIs both pre-and post-diagnosis compared to patients with AD and VaD. Post-diagnosis, donepezil was the most common, while galantamine use was sparse. After adjusting for demographics, patients with VaD had lower rates of ChEIs relative to AD (OR: 0.34, 95% CI 0.26–0.45). In the fully adjusted model, females (OR: 0.81, 95% CI: 0.71–0.91) and patients from ethnoracially minoritized populations (OR: 0.74, 95% CI: 0.62–0.88) were less likely to fill ChEI prescriptions.

Conclusions

Donepezil was the most frequently filled ChEI across dementias. Patients with DLB had the highest prevalence of ChEIs pre- and post-diagnosis. The potential disparities in treatment we identified should be investigated further.