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Driving cessation and dementia: results of the prospective registry on dementia in Austria (PRODEM).

ABSTRACT: OBJECTIVE: To assess the influence of cognitive, functional and behavioral factors, co-morbidities as well as caregiver characteristics on driving cessation in dementia patients. METHODS: The study cohort consists of those 240 dementia cases of the ongoing prospective registry on dementia in Austria (PRODEM) who were former or current car-drivers (mean age 74.2 (±8.8) years, 39.6% females, 80.8% Alzheimer's disease). Reasons for driving cessation were assessed with the patients' caregivers. Standardized questionnaires were used to evaluate patient- and caregiver characteristics. Cognitive functioning was determined by Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), the CERAD neuropsychological test battery and Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR), activities of daily living (ADL) by the Disability Assessment for Dementia, behavior by the Neuropsychiatric Inventory (NPI) and caregiver burden by the Zarit burden scale. RESULTS: Among subjects who had ceased driving, 136 (93.8%) did so because of "Unacceptable risk" according to caregiver's judgment. Car accidents and revocation of the driving license were responsible in 8 (5.5%) and 1(0.7%) participant, respectively. Female gender (OR 5.057; 95%CI 1.803-14.180; p = 0.002), constructional abilities (OR 0.611; 95%CI 0.445-0.839; p = 0.002) and impairment in Activities of Daily Living (OR 0.941; 95%CI 0.911-0.973; p<0.001) were the only significant and independent associates of driving cessation. In multivariate analysis none of the currently proposed screening tools for assessment of fitness to drive in elderly subjects including the MMSE and CDR were significantly associated with driving cessation. CONCLUSION: The risk-estimate of caregivers, but not car accidents or revocation of the driving license determines if dementia patients cease driving. Female gender and increasing impairment in constructional abilities and ADL raise the probability for driving cessation. If any of these factors also relates to undesired traffic situations needs to be determined before recommendations for their inclusion into practice parameters for the assessment of driving abilities in the elderly can be derived from our data.

SUBMITTER: Seiler S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3530518 | biostudies-other | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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Project description:ImportancePrior studies suggested that metformin may be associated with reduced dementia incidence, but associations may be confounded by disease severity and prescribing trends. Cessation of metformin therapy in people with diabetes typically occurs due to signs of kidney dysfunction but sometimes is due to less serious adverse effects associated with metformin.ObjectiveTo investigate the association of terminating metformin treatment for reasons unrelated to kidney dysfunction with dementia incidence.Design, setting, and participantsThis cohort study was conducted at Kaiser Permanente Northern California, a large integrated health care delivery system, among a cohort of metformin users born prior to 1955 without history of diagnosed kidney disease at metformin initiation. Dementia follow-up began with the implementation of electronic health records in 1996 and continued to 2020. Data were analyzed from November 2021 through September 2023.ExposuresA total of 12 220 early terminators, individuals who stopped metformin with normal estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), were compared with routine metformin users, who had not yet terminated metformin treatment or had terminated (with or without restarting) after their first abnormal eGFR measurement. Early terminators were matched with routine users of the same age and gender who had diabetes for the same duration.Main outcomes and measuresThe outcome of interest was all-cause incident dementia. Follow-up for early terminators and their matched routine users was started at age of termination for the early terminator. Survival models adjusted for sociodemographic characteristics and comorbidities at the time of metformin termination (or matched age). Mediation models with HbA1c level and insulin usage 1 and 5 years after termination tested whether changes in blood glucose or insulin usage explained associations between early termination of metformin and dementia incidence.ResultsThe final analytic sample consisted of 12 220 early terminators (5640 women [46.2%]; mean [SD] age at start of first metformin prescription, 59.4 [9.0] years) and 29 126 routine users (13 582 women [46.6%]; mean [SD] age at start of first metformin prescription, 61.1 [8.9] years). Early terminators had 1.21 times the hazard of dementia diagnosis compared with routine users (hazard ratio, 1.21; 95% CI, 1.12 to 1.30). In mediation analysis, contributions to this association by changes in HbA1c level or insulin use ranged from no contribution (0.00 years; 95% CI, -0.02 to 0.02 years) for insulin use at 5 years after termination to 0.07 years (95% CI, 0.02 to 0.13 years) for HbA1c level at 1 year after termination, suggesting that the association was largely independent of changes in HbA1c level and insulin usage.Conclusions and relevanceIn this study, terminating metformin treatment was associated with increased dementia incidence. This finding may have important implications for clinical treatment of adults with diabetes and provides additional evidence that metformin is associated with reduced dementia risk.

Project description:BackgroundThe population of patients with established coronary artery disease (CAD) is growing because of an improvement in outcomes and survival from acute disease episodes. Nevertheless, these patients remain at high risk of cardiovascular events. Thus, CAD management is important in prevention of disease progression. The objective of this analysis was to describe disease management and clinical outcome of Austrian outpatients with stable CAD over 5 years by using data from the international CLARIFY registry.MethodsCLARIFY was an international prospective observational registry of outpatients with stable CAD, defined as prior myocardial infarction or revascularization (CABG or PCI), coronary stenosis of more than 50% by coronary angiography or chest pain with myocardial ischemia. We analyzed demographic characteristics, risk factors, treatments and clinical outcomes of 424 Austrian outpatients with established CAD who were enrolled between November 2009 and July 2010 and observed until September 2015.ResultsThe primary risk factors in Austrian outpatients with stable CAD were smoking (current smokers: 13.2%), overweight (77.1%), hypertension (78.5%), raised low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol plasma levels (81.4% ≥ 0.7 g/l or 1.8 mmol/l), elevated heart rate (≥70 bpm: 60.9% in patients with anginal symptoms) and poor physical activity (none or light activity: 63.4%). Patients received lipid-lowering drugs (predominantly statins), aspirin, beta-blockers and angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors according to current recommendations. After 5 years a systolic blood pressure (SBP) < 140 mm Hg and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) < 90 mm Hg was reached in 58.5% of patients. Of the patients 70.4% had LDL cholesterol plasma levels below 1.0 g/l (2.6 mmol/l), 42.1% of smokers had stopped smoking, 42.9% of patients with anginal symptoms had a heart rate ≤60 bpm and 26.0% of diabetic patients had brought their HbA1c levels below 6.5%. Cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction or stroke occurred in 30 patients (7.1%), all-cause death in 25 cases (5.9%) and cardiovascular death in 15 cases (3.5%). Myocardial infarction was reported in 14 patients (fatal and non-fatal: 3.3%) and stroke in 8 patients (fatal and non-fatal: 1.9%), 39 patients (9.2%) underwent myocardial revascularization and 124 patients (29.2%) experienced cardiovascular hospitalization.ConclusionCharacteristics of Austrian outpatients with stable CAD corresponded to those of patients with CAD in other developed countries. Medical treatments following the recommendations of the European guidelines were prescribed in the majority of patients; however, recommended goals of life style interventions including a heart rate less than 60 bpm and general risk factor management were not achieved by a high proportion of patients. Heart rate control and life style changes remain unmet needs of cardiovascular care in Austria.

Project description:IntroductionDementia is one of the most relevant widespread diseases, with a prevalence of currently 50 million people with dementia worldwide. The care of people with dementia will be one of the major challenges for healthcare systems worldwide. Digitalisation offers new possibilities to improve both dementia healthcare and health outcomes research as a fundament for national healthcare planning. The 'Digital Dementia Registry Bavaria-digiDEM Bayern' aims to improve the understanding of the complexity and long-term progression of dementia and the current care situation in Bavaria. Moreover, by offering digital services, digiDEM will actively contribute to improving the care situation in Bavaria. METHODS AND ANALYSIS: digiDEM will recruit people with dementia and their family caregivers in all administrative regions of Bavaria. All participants will undergo dementia screening prior to study inclusion in order to identify people with mild cognitive impairment and mild-to-moderate dementia. Participants will be followed up over a period of three years. Sociodemographic data, type of dementia, symptoms, diagnosis, cognitive trajectories, activities of daily living, behavioural and psychological symptoms, falls, resource utilisation, caregiver burden, quality of life, needs of people with dementia and their caregivers, mobility, use of media and sources of information will be assessed. The project will implement a digital web-based platform for data collection. Data will be collected by means of standardised online or face-to-face interviews.Ethics and disseminationThe study obtained ethical approval from the Ethics Committee of the Medical Faculty of Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) (application number: 253_20 B). Findings will be used for evidence-based decision-making for health decision-makers in order to optimise dementia healthcare in the state of Bavaria. Specific analyses will be conducted for the participating research partners. Results of the study will be published in peer-reviewed journals.

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Driving cessation and dementia: results of the prospective registry on dementia in Austria (PRODEM).

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