• Alzheimers Dement · Jun 2015

    Frequent use of opioids in patients with dementia and nursing home residents: A study of the entire elderly population of Denmark.

    • Christina Jensen-Dahm, Christiane Gasse, Aske Astrup, Preben Bo Mortensen, and Gunhild Waldemar.
    • Department of Neurology, Danish Dementia Research Centre (DDRC), Rigshospitalet-University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Electronic address: christina.jensen-dahm@regionh.dk.
    • Alzheimers Dement. 2015 Jun 1; 11 (6): 691-9.

    BackgroundPain is believed to be undertreated in patients with dementia; however, no larger studies have been conducted. The aim was to investigate prevalent use of opioids in elderly with and without dementia in the entire elderly population of Denmark.MethodA register-based cross-sectional study in the entire elderly (≥65 years) population in 2010 was conducted. Opioid use among elderly with dementia (N = 35,455) was compared with elderly without (N = 870,645), taking age, sex, comorbidity, and living status into account.ResultsNursing home residents (NHRs) used opioids most frequently (41%), followed by home-living patients with dementia (27.5%) and home-living patients without dementia (16.9%). Buprenorphine and fentanyl (primarily patches) were commonly used among NHRs (18.7%) and home-living patients with dementia (10.7%) but less often by home-living patients without dementia (2.4%).ConclusionsOpioid use in the elderly Danish population was frequent but particularly in patients with dementia and NHR, which may challenge patient safety and needs further investigation.Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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