Adherence to Medication in Patients with Dementia: Problems and Solutions

Daniel J. Brauner, MD, Department of Medicine/Geriatrics, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.

Lack of adherence is a major reason for the failure of medical therapies and is an especially important and sometimes underappreciated issue for the growing number of people with dementia. The factors that tend to affect adherence in persons with dementia have begun to be appreciated and have implications for patients more generally. Strategies for improving adherence in patients with dementia based on their cognitive problems are discussed. Increased awareness of adherence will encourage physicians to create more reasonable and simplified medical regimes and promote the use of aids for improving adherence, which can also be used with cognitively intact patients.
Key words: dementia, adherence, medication management capacity.