Table 1 Characteristics of nursing home residents with dementia (entire cohort) according to their exposure to cholinesterase inhibitors (AChEI), memantine, and AChEI plus memantine

Age in years, mean (sd)

87.7 (6.9)

84.3 (6.7)

85.3 (6.3)

83.6 (6.6)

< 0.001

Males (n,%)

5,957 (29.35)

858 (33.65)

676 (32.9)

156 (33.91)

< 0.001

Level of dependency (n,%)

< 0.001

 very severe (GIR1)

853 (4.42)

148 (6.39)

169 (9.06)

39 (9.29)

 severe (GIR2)

6,553 (33.96)

938 (40.48)

794 (42.57)

198 (47.14)

 moderately severe (GIR3)

4,552 (23.59)

510 (22.01)

435 (23.32)

78 (18.57)

 moderate (GIR4)

5,600 (29.02)

565 (24.38)

364 (19.52)

83 (19.76)

 mild (GIR5)

1,090 (5.65)

93 (4.01)

73 (3.91)

13 (3.10)

 none (GIR6)

648 (3.36)

63 (2.72)

30 (1.61)

9 (2.14)

MMSE score, m (sd)

16.0 (7.3)

17.2 (8.6)

16.0 (9.5)

15.5 (9.6)

< 0.001

Cardiovascular diseases (n,%)

7,355 (36.24)

676 (26.51)

659 (32.01)

122 (26.52)

< 0.001

Peripheral arterial disease (n,%)

603 (2.97)

46 (1.80)

53 (2.58)

6 (1.30)

< 0.001

Stroke (n,%)

630 (3.10)

61 (2.39)

53 (2.58)

16 (3.48)

< 0.001

COPD (n,%)

4,961 (24.45)

484 (18.98)

351 (17.57)

88 (19.13)

< 0.001

Diabetes (n,%)

2,669 (13.15)

263 (10.31)

229 (11.14)

55 (11.96)

< 0.001

Cancer (n,%)

632 (3.11)

64 (2.51)

45 (2.19)

14 (3.04)

0.053

Parkinson disease (n,%)

1,229 (6.06)

402 (15.76)

64 (3.11)

22 (4.78)

< 0.001

Fractures (n,%)

1,679 (8.27)

185 (7.25)

167 (8.13)

41 (8.91)

0.323

Charlson index, median (IQR)

5 (4, 6)

5 (5, 6)

5 (5, 6)

5 (5, 6)

< 0.001

Exposure at admission (n, %)

-

2,226 (87.3)

1,747 (85.0)

429 (93.3)

< 0.001

Exposure time in months, median (IQR)

-

7.7

(2.8, 19.5)

8.4

(2.8, 19.4)

7.1

(2.6, 17.4)

0.201

Exposure time < 30 days (n, %)

-

346 (13.6)

249 (12.1)

69 (15.0)

0.158

Follow-up time in months, median (IQR)

16.5

(6.3, 33.0)

19.3

(5.8, 37.5)

17.8

(6.1, 36.2)

22.8

(8.1, 43.2)

< 0.001