Discontinuation of Alzheimer Disease Medications in Patients Receiving Home Care Medicine

There is no consensus on how long antidementia medications should be administered to patients with Alzheimer disease (AD). To clarify this issue, we investigated the discontinuation of antidementia medications in Japanese home care settings, including community-dwelling and institutionalized patients. Using medical records from April 2017 to March 2022 at 3 clinics in Tokyo and Chiba prefectures, we selected patients with AD who started receiving home care medicine. Forty-nine patients discontinued antidementia medications during the observation period, there was no apparent deterioration in cognitive function or new occurrence of behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia caused by the discontinuation of medications. More aggressive discontinuation of AD medications probably is recommended for patients with activities of daily living dysfunction, such as those receiving home care medicine.