The impact of medication reviews by general practitioners on psychotropic drug use and behavioral and psychological symptoms in home-dwelling people with dementia: results from the multicomponent cluster randomized controlled LIVE@Home.Path trial

Table 3 Changes from baseline to 6 months for people with dementia in the LIVE@Home.Path trial

	Number of observations (overall sample)	Intervention group (Group 1) (n=67)		Controls (Group 2 and 3) (n=170)		P value*
	n	Mean	SD	Mean	SD	P value*
Drugs in general
Total number	213	0.32	2.17	0.29	1.94	0.944
Regularly	213	0.02	1.80	− 0.06	1.63	0.778
Psychotropic drugs
Total number	213	0.02	0.81	0.06	0.62	0.718
Regularly	213	0.00	0.64	− 0.01	0.61	0.946
≥ 1 regularly	138	− 0.18	0.60	− 0.12	0.66	0.620
Classes regularly prescribed
Antipsychotic drugs	213	− 0.02	0.13	0.00	0.00	0.321
Anxiolytic drugs	213	0.00	0.00	0.01	0.18	0.656
Hypnotic/sedative drugs	213	0.02	0.34	− 0.03	0.31	0.337
Antidepressant drugs	213	0.03	0.26	0.02	0.29	0.737
Antidementia drugs	213	− 0.03	0.45	0.00	0.43	0.623
Behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia
NPI-12 total score	220	2.57	18.60	2.64	16.60	0.982
NPI-12 subsyndromes
Psychosis	237	0.54	3.73	0.79	4.23	0.647
Hyperactive behavior	237	2.66	7.96	1.34	7.98	0.252
Mood	237	− 0.46	11.15	0.51	9.23	0.527
NPI-12 domain scores
Delusions	219	0.67	2.47	0.43	2.99	0.599
Hallucinations	219	0.03	2.27	0.35	2.29	0.353
Agitation	218	0.73	2.94	0.45	2.35	0.509
Depression	220	− 0.07	3.76	0.31	2.95	0.479
Anxiety	218	− 0.08	3.02	0.06	3.47	0.761
Euphoria	216	0.52	1.81	0.19	1.74	0.227
Apathy	218	0.03	4.47	0.30	4.01	0.685
Disinhibitions	216	0.32	2.68	− 0.17	2.28	0.219
Irritability	220	0.08	3.72	0.50	3.02	0.431
Aberrant motor behavior	218	1.13	3.57	0.14	3.08	0.059
Sleep disturbances	217	0.42	4.22	0.40	4.23	0.981
Appetite changes	219	− 1.23	4.62	0.35	3.59	0.183
CSDD total score	218	2.12	5.09	0.90	7.69	0.178
Patient-general practitioner communication by CGIC	230	0.95	1.68	0.41	1.34	0.022*

n number of participants completing the first 6-month period; SD standard deviation, P two-tailed P value, generated by unequal variance t-test, regarded significant if <0.05 and marked *. Drugs were classified by the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical Index; psychotropic drugs included antipsychotics, anxiolytics, hypnotics/sedatives, antidepressants, and antidementia drugs. NPI-12 Neuropsychiatric Inventory, total score ranges 0–144, psychosis subsyndrome (delusions and hallucinations) ranges 0–24, hyperactive behavior (agitation, euphoria, irritation, disinhibition, aberrant motor behavior) ranges 0–60, mood (depression, apathy, sleep disturbances, and appetite changes) ranges 0–48, each domain ranges 0–12. CSDD Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia, total score ranges 0–38. Negative values indicate reductions in drugs and improvement on NPI and CSDD, while positive scores indicate drug increase and symptom deterioration. CGIC Clinical Global Impression of Change, range −5–5, negative scores indicate worsening, positive scores indicate improvement

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