Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLBs) is a common cause of dementia but has higher mortality than Alzheimer’s disease. In a recent study published in the journal PLOS Medicine, researchers from the University of Cambridge (UK) examined the association between antidementia medication with hospital admissions, length of stay and mortality in people with DLBs. In this study, the primary aim was to investigate whether the use of antidementia drugs (including acetylcholinesterase inhibitors [AChEIs] and memantine) was associated with an altered risk of death in people with DLB. The second aim was to investigate the association of AChEIs and/or memantine with the risk of hospital admission (planned or unplanned) and corresponding duration of hospital stay, for mental and physical disorders, in people with DLB.
Researchers used data from several clinical records and identified 592 people with DLB, including 219 who never took AChEIs or memantine, 100 who took AChEIs only and 273 who took both AChEIs and memantine between 1 January 2005 and 31 December 2019. Findings showed that people taking AChEIs alone or with memantine had a significantly lower risk of death and shorter hospital stays. Significantly shorter periods of unplanned hospital admission were seen for physical disorders in people taking AChEIs or both AChEIs and memantine but there was no difference in the length of stay for planned admissions for physical disorders or for admissions for mental health disorders. No significant additional associations of memantine on admission, length of stay, and mortality were found.
