Current Clinical Pharmacology - Volume 10, Issue 3, 2015

Older adults with dementia commonly have multiple chronic conditions that prompt clinicians to prescribe medications. While dementia is a life-limiting disease, progression from mild cognitive impairment to end stage dementia is a process that can occur over many years and may not take a predetermined course. Therefore aligning pharmacological treatment with changing goals of care can be challenging. The aim of this Read More

The aim of this systematic review was to identify, assess and summarize studies about potentially inappropriate drug use (IDU) in cognitive impairment and dementia and to present findings about whether cognitive impairment and dementia are associated with IDU. The search was made in Medline/PubMed using free terms in the title or abstract. The inclusion criteria were: English language, published until 1 March 2 Read More

Whether to start, continue or discontinue statins in older people remains a clinical and ethical dilemma. While there is clinical trial evidence that statins reduce cardiovascular morbidity in older people, recently concerns have been raised about side effects in this population. Adverse effects of statins reported in older people include muscle-related symptoms, diabetes, impaired physical function and cognitive impairment. The c Read More

Pain is a frequent cause of discomfort and distress in residents in residential aged care facilities (RACFs). Despite the benefits of adequate pain management, there is inconsistency in the literature regarding analgesic use and pain in residents with dementia. The aim of this systematic review was to determine the prevalence of analgesic drug use among residents with and without dementia or cognitive impairment in RACFs. A Read More

There is uncertainty in relation to the effect of alcohol consumption on the incidence of dementia and cognitive decline. This review critically evaluated published systematic reviews on the epidemiology of alcohol consumption and the risk of dementia or cognitive decline. MEDLINE, EMBASE and PsycINFO were searched from inception to February 2014. Systematic reviews of longitudinal observational studies were c Read More

Impaired cognition has a significant impact on a person’s ability to manage their medicines. The aim of this paper is to provide a narrative review of contemporary literature on medicines management by people with dementia or cognitive impairment living in the community, methods for assessing their capacity to safely manage medicines, and strategies for supporting independent medicines management. Studies and re Read More

There currently is no cure or established preventative treatment for Alzheimer's disease (AD). Considering the increasing aging population and the subsequent high prevalence of AD worldwide, identifying a cost-effective way to prevent AD is an essential unmet medical need. Relative to healthy human brain samples, postmortem AD brain samples have been shown to exhibit lower docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) levels, an essential Read More

Tuberculosis is one of the leading causes of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Current treatment has several challenges, such as multi-drug resistance, extensively drug-resistance and HIV co-infection. Problems related to patients, treatment and health care system also contribute negatively to this panel. This review summarizes the main obstacles causing in the treatment of tuberculosis and discusses several strat Read More