Treatment Patterns and Needs for Dementia-related Psychosis Described by Patients and Care Partners (Caregivers): an Observational, Prospective Study to Describe the Patient Experience

This observational, noninterventional, prospective study used qualitative interviews and a quantitative survey to describe treatment patterns and needs of persons with dementia-related psychosis (DRP). Persons with DRP and care partners (CP) of persons with DRP reported the effectiveness of current treatments using a visual analog scale (VAS) of 0 (“not at all well”) to 5 (“extremely well”) and ranked benefits of an ideal treatment. 

The qualitative interview was completed by 1 patient and 15 CP. Treatments included atypical antipsychotics, antidepressants, anxiolytics, and benzodiazepines. Participants commonly indicated a need to improve patients’ ability to know what is real. 

The survey was completed by 26 patients and 186 CP. Treatments used included atypical antipsychotics (27% of patients, 41% of CP) and psychological/ behavioral therapy (23% of patients, 8% of CP). Many participants reported no current treatment (42% of patients, 42% of CP). Participants reported that current treatments were less than moderately helpful for the most impactful symptoms (median VAS score of 2.0/5; mean VAS score [standard deviation] = 2.33 [1.0] for patients [n=15], mean [standard deviation] VAS score = 2.4 [1.3] for CP [n=104]). Participants ranked the ability to distinguish what is real vs not real (35% of patients, 49% of CP) and overall symptom improvement (42% of patients, 23% of CP) as the most important benefits of an ideal treatment.
 
Patients and CPs reported either not taking DRP treatments or that current treatments were associated with side effects and/or limited efficacy. There is an unmet need for treatments for DRP.