Mild Cognitive Impairment and Anti-Alzheimer Disease Medications: A Cross Sectional Study of the French National Alzheimer Databank (BNA)

Unlike Alzheimer's disease (AD), there are no drugs approved for the treatment of mild cognitive impairment (MCI). The objective of this study was to evaluate real world prescriptions of anti-AD medications in patients with MCI in France and to determine characteristics associated with treatment. A cross sectional study of the French National Alzheimer Databank (BNA) was conducted. Patients diagnosed with MCI by physicians of the BNA network in 2010 and 2011 were included in this study. We included 16,236 patients with a diagnosis of MCI in the study. Mean age was 76.4 years old and females were 59.5%. Nine hundred eighty five patients (6.1%) were taking an anti-AD medication. Results of a multivariate analysis show that use was associated with older age, lower MMSE score, amnestic MCI subtype, living at home, and higher education. Treatment with antidepressant drugs was also associated with anti-AD medication use (odd ratio: 1.68; 95% confidence interval: 1.44 to 1.96). "Off label" prescription of anti-AD drugs is low in France and seems to be limited to a population at risk of conversion to AD. Similar analysis will be required to monitor this practice in the future.