Medication reconciliation role and value in Alzheimer's disease treatment

BACKGROUND: With the continuous increase of Alzheimer's disease (AD), it is also imminent to treat patients with AD for medication reconciliation. OBJECTIVE: To explore the role and value of medication reconciliation in AD treatment. METHODS: 100 patients over 65 years of age diagnosed with AD were randomly separated into two groups: conventional treatment and medication reforming. The list of medical orders of all subjects was obtained within 24 hours after admission with Beers criteria, STOPP/START criteria, and Chinese Pharmacopoeia used as the MED intervention criteria. Medication reconciliation was performed at 2 weeks, 1 month, and 2 months after hospital admission. The number of medications prescribed, the quantity of the medication, medication error rate, therapeutic effect, adverse drug reactions, and satisfaction levels of family members and main caregivers were compared between the two groups. RESULTS: After the intervention, the types and amount of medication in the MED group were less compared to the CON group along with a reduced medication deviation rate. The Mini-mental state examination (MMSE) score and the proportion of well-nourished patients in the MED group were higher than those in the CON group. It was also observed that the physical self-care ability score and the proportion of patients with abnormal swallowing were lower when in comparison with the CON group. The incidence of adverse drug reactions in the MED group was lower than that in the CON group. However, the satisfaction rate was higher than that in the CON group. CONCLUSION: Medication reconciliation can reduce the medication deviation in AD patients.