Effect of Dementia on the Use of Drugs for Secondary Prevention of Ischemic Heart Disease
Table 2
Unadjusted use of guideline-recommended medications by study participants in 1992 and 1998, stratified by dementia status.
Medication
1992 (study year 5)* Number (%)
1998 (study year 11)† Number (%)
Without dementia ()
With dementia ()
value
Without dementia ()
With dementia ()
value
Medications for IHD
ACE inhibitor
131 (13.2)
15 (18.3)
0.20
146 (24.4)
35 (25.0)
0.89
Beta-blocker
221 (22.3)
8 (9.8)
0.008
220 (36.8)
36 (25.7)
0.01
Lipid-lowering medication‡
102 (10.3)
3 (3.7)
0.05
184 (30.8)
22 (15.7)
<0.001
511 (51.5)
37 (45.1)
0.27
360 (63.8)
69 (58.0)
0.23
Use of two or more medications for IHD
266 (26.8)
15 (18.3)
0.09
300 (50.1)
50 (35.5)
0.002
Use of other cardiac medications
Calcium channel blocker
348 (35.1)
27 (32.9)
0.70
205 (34.3)
43 (30.7)
0.42
Diuretic
297 (30.0)
31 (37.8)
0.14
217 (36.3)
52 (37.1)
0.85
Digoxin
149 (15.0)
18 (22.0)
0.10
116 (19.4)
30 (21.4)
0.59
Nitrate
250 (25.2)
18 (22.0)
0.52
158 (26.4)
44 (31.4)
0.23
Class 1A antiarrhythmic agent
36 (3.6)
2 (2.4)
0.76
2 (0.33)
4 (2.9)
0.01
Total number of all prescription medications, mean (SD)
0.99 (0.9)
0.79 (0.7)
0.04
1.57 (1.0)
1.27 (1.0)
0.003
ACE: angiotensin-converting enzyme; IHD: ischemic heart disease; SD: standard deviation.
*Study year 5 for initial sample and baseline year for supplemented minority cohort. †Final study year for full sample. ‡Lipid-lowering medications included statins (3-hydroxy-3-methyglutaryl-coenzyme A [HMG-CoA] reductase inhibitors) and nonstatins. Antiplatelet medications included cyclooxygenase inhibitors (e.g., aspirin) and adenosine diphosphate (ADP) receptor inhibitors.
